Di­git­al Sov­er­eignty, AI & Re­si­li­ent In­fra­struc­tures

Course content

This course examines how digital interdependence and technological concentration shape Europe’s sovereignty, competitiveness, and resilience.
It integrates perspectives from digital economics, AI governance, industrial policy, and security studies to understand how global infrastructures—such as cloud, data, and AI—affect national and corporate autonomy.

Building on key theoretical frameworks—Keohane & Nye’s (1998) complex interdependence and Farrell & Newman’s (2019) weaponized interdependence—students explore how dependencies within global networks can be sources of both vulnerability and strategic power.

The course develops an applied understanding of how Europe can respond to asymmetric dependencies through AI investment, industrial strategy, and digital infrastructure innovation, as recommended in the Draghi Report (2024).

The course emphasizes interactive and applied learning through:

• Real-world case studies,

• Practitioner insights from industry and government,

• Student-led presentations and peer exchange,

• Structured reflection and simulation exercises.

Content:

The course addresses digital sovereignty as both a strategic and managerial challenge arising from deep global interdependence in digital infrastructures, platforms, and AI ecosystems. Drawing on theories of complex interdependence, weaponized interdependence, and soft and hard power, the course examines how digital dependencies can be transformed into sources of vulnerability, leverage, or resilience.

A central analytical lens is the concept of tech stacks—the layered combination of hardware, software, data, platforms, and governance mechanisms that underpin modern organisations and societies. Students learn how sovereignty challenges emerge not at a single technological layer, but across interconnected stacks involving cloud infrastructure, data architectures, AI models, supply chains, and standards. The course shows how control over specific layers can generate power asymmetries, chokepoints, and strategic exposure.

The course integrates dynamic capabilities theory to explain how organisations and governments can actively manage digital sovereignty over time. Rather than treating sovereignty as static independence, the course emphasises managerial capabilities to sense dependencies, seize strategic options, and reconfigure digital architectures in response to technological, regulatory, and geopolitical change. This perspective highlights sovereignty as an ongoing strategic process rather than a one-off technical decision.

Throughout the course, students work with practical managerial guidelines for managing digital sovereignty in organisations and public institutions. These include:

• Designing modular and substitutable tech stacks

• Managing vendor lock-in and exit options

• Balancing global platforms with local and European alternatives

• Governing data, AI models, and infrastructure across organisational boundaries

• Aligning digital strategy with regulatory, security, and resilience requirements

Teaching is structured around a combination of lectures, student case presentations, and practitioner contributions, ensuring close integration between theory and real-world decision-making. Practitioner sessions provide insight into how digital sovereignty challenges are addressed in practice within firms, public authorities, and critical infrastructure providers.

Learning is supported through structured reflection exercises and short learning tests, encouraging students to continuously integrate conceptual frameworks with empirical cases. The pedagogical approach emphasises analytical reasoning, strategic judgement, and applied problem-solving, preparing students to manage digital sovereignty challenges in both private and public sector contexts.