On January 28th, we hosted another edition of UpCloud Connect, this time live from Copenhagen! Together with our strategic partners Solita and CloudPortal, and valued customer Qampo, we explored the challenges and opportunities Danish businesses are facing in an increasingly uncertain geopolitical climate.

Against this backdrop, discussions around digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy have taken on new importance in Denmark as laid bare by guest speaker Natasha Friis Saxberg, CEO Danish ICT Industry Association & Vice Chairman, Danish Quantum Community. As global dynamics continue to shift, organisations are paying closer attention to where their data lives and how their infrastructure is governed. 

These realities made the themes discussed throughout the event especially relevant for businesses navigating constant change.

Digital Sovereignty in a Geopolitically Unpredictable World

Cutting through the recent political noise, Natasha focused on what Denmark and Europe should prioritise as alliances shift and uncertainty grows. She framed digital sovereignty not as a rejection of American technology, but as Europe’s ability to determine its own future by understanding where critical data, technologies, and infrastructure create real vulnerabilities, and where self-sufficiency genuinely matters.

One of the central points was that Europe’s current position is partly self-inflicted. Years of underinvestment in technology and a fragmented capital market have pushed many ambitious startups towards the US in search of scale, funding, and access to a single market.

Rather than treating this as an external failure, Natasha argued for a more pragmatic approach. Europe needs to protect people and strengthen resilience without regulating innovation to a standstill, while recognising that global competition is increasingly shaped by political pressure rather than pure market forces.

“In the US, around 70% of strategic public tenders are awarded to national vendors. In China, that number is 100% — which probably doesn’t surprise anyone. But in Europe, the figure is between 8% and 12%. […]. What if we changed that? Think about the investment we could channel into the tech and telecom ecosystem — and into innovation more broadly — if we evaluated vulnerabilities and risk, rather than focusing solely on price.”

Natasha Friis Saxberg, CEO Danish ICT Industry Association

The session ended on a cautiously optimistic note. Europe still has strong foundations to build on, particularly in high-quality data for applied AI and in quantum technologies. The way forward, Natasha argued, lies in cooperation and values-based alliances rather than isolation. Quoting Mark Carney, “The old order is not coming back and nostalgia is not a strategy.”

Digital Sovereignty as a Business Imperative

The conversation then moved from geopolitics to the practical realities facing businesses with Arno Schäfer, CEO at UpCloud. From a European perspective, digital sovereignty is no longer just a policy discussion. It has become a strategic issue, as the risk profile of companies has changed significantly in recent months. Decisions around data security, compliance, and infrastructure are now firmly board-level concerns regarding cloud strategies.

A recurring theme was the need for clarity, especially as more hyperscalers market “sovereign cloud” offerings. His message was clear in that branding alone does not guarantee control. When a provider’s headquarters are outside Europe, questions around jurisdiction and access remain. 

UpCloud’s role in this landscape was highlighted through its growing network of Nordic and European data centres including Copenhagen and Stavanger, its focus on cost-efficient infrastructure, and its European partnerships aimed at reducing dependency on big tech. The takeaway was both practical and political. Sovereignty matters more if it delivers performance, business value, and long-term resilience.

Panel Discussion: Customer Perspectives on Sovereignty, Trust, and Cloud Choice

The panel brought the discussion firmly into real-world experience, with Tue Christensen, Principal Decision Scientist at Qampo and Tristan White, CEO at Cloud Portal sharing how sovereignty considerations affect day-to-day decisions. Both emphasised that data sovereignty is not an abstract principle, but a practical question of trust, accountability, and risk management. As customer expectations shift, being “European” needs to translate into real control and operational clarity, not just positioning.

Tue described how their decision science and AI-driven solutions rely on speed, reliability, and usability as much as advanced algorithms. Examples from logistics and airport operations showed how quickly performance issues surface in operational environments which necessitates the need for cloud that can keep up in tight real-world constraints.

Focused on what customers consistently ask for, Tristan highlighted that clear pricing, responsive support, and human contact still matter and stressed that the ability to offer local Danish data centres and a localised customer experience helps remove uncertainty, particularly in regulated industries.

Together, the panel reinforced a simple point. Digital sovereignty is a series of practical choices where locality, clarity, and strong partnerships help businesses stay secure without losing flexibility.

Where to get started?

Moving towards sovereign cloud is not a single switch or a one-time transformation as highlighted by Jesper Dan Christiansen, Executive Vice President, Denmark at Solita, but rather a structured, pragmatic journey that starts with understanding your most critical data, workflows, and risks.

“It’s no longer just an IT topic. It’s actually a very serious business decision on a strategic level in the boardroom.”

Jesper Dan Christiansen, Executive Vice President, Denmark at Solita

Looking to start your Sovereign Cloud journey? Reach out to UpCloud to get started with lightning fast, highly scalable, sovereign cloud. Built for modern workloads, backed by 24/7 support.