60 per cent of small businesses in the information economy with up to 19 employees feel very dependent on non-European providers or partners. According to a survey by the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW) (https://www.zew.de), this figure is 66 per cent for medium-sized companies (20 to 99 employees) and as high as 74 per cent for large companies.

Many non-European providers

The survey of 1,100 companies shows that ‘dependence on foreign – especially non-European – providers and partners can significantly limit the digital sovereignty of companies,’ notes ZEW study director Daniel Erdsiek.

In the information economy, over 60 per cent of companies estimate that they are heavily dependent on non-European suppliers or partners in at least one of the eight technology fields surveyed. In the manufacturing sector, this figure is almost 50 per cent.

Dependence on software and AI

‘Companies perceive dependencies in the field of generative AI. More than one in three companies in the information economy and around one in four companies in the manufacturing sector feel very dependent on non-European providers.’

According to Erdsiek, the proportion has risen by six percentage points in both industries compared to 2024. ‘These are subjective assessments of possible dependencies. Smaller companies could be just as dependent on non-European suppliers as larger ones.’