€20 billion annual opportunity from specifying Gaia-X Trust Frameworks and Labels in cloud procurement in Europe
Brussels, 14 November 2024. Ahead of the Gaia-X summit in Helsinki on 14th & 15th November, CISPE calls on Gaia-X to seize a critical opportunity to secure its relevance in the European cloud market: a rapid shift from elaborating theoretical frameworks to delivering practical, market-driven actions is required to ensure Gaia-X’s future. The organisation must actively advocate for customers across the private and public sectors to demand Gaia-X compliance as a cornerstone of trusted, federated and distributed cloud infrastructures.
CISPE estimates that if just 10 percent of cloud procurement tenders specified Gaia-X labels, it would create a €20 billion annual opportunity for European cloud providers whilst enhancing customer choice of sovereign cloud services. CISPE members are ready to deliver the services to serve such market opportunities: over a thousand of their cloud services, available all across Europe, were already listed 12 months ago in the CISPE Catalogue meeting requirements of the Gaia-X Trust Framework, including Level 2 and Level 3 Gaia-X Labels.
Customer Demand Drives Relevance
Market demand is a prerequisite; without customers mandating Gaia-X-compliant labels, the work of contributors over many years and the investment in creating a secure, transparent, and interoperable cloud ecosystem may be wasted. Although pioneering companies, including EDF and Airbus, have recently committed to incorporating Gaia-X labels in their cloud service requests for tender, more must be done. Gaia-X and its membership must be proactive and push for many more to follow this example.
The European Commission, national governments, and public sector organizations across the EU also have a role to play. They too should lead the way by requiring Gaia-X Trust Frameworks in all public cloud procurements.
Trust, Federation and Distribution All Essential to Europe’s Digital Sovereignty
CISPE, a founding member of Gaia-X, remains committed to the vision of a trusted, federated digital infrastructure that offers a secure and compliant ecosystem. By embedding Gaia-X principles into European cloud services through frameworks and codes of conduct, CISPE supports the practical application of these standards. CISPE and its members are currently deploying the first real federated infrastructures that can meet customer demand for proximity, security, flexibility and choice.
Francisco Mingorance, Secretary-General of CISPE, commented: “These are exciting times. By leveraging conformity monitoring technologies and federating cloud services that meet the Gaia-X Trust Framework requirements, including Level 2 and Level 3, Europe can transform its fragmented cloud landscape into a strength and create a competitive alternative to centralized offerings. This new paradigm of distributed, federated infrastructure will be a key requirement to fulfil market expectation towards control, sovereignty and transparency.”