Sovereignty at the core: how the Netherlands is contributing to Europe’s cloud future

Muriel Sinselmeijer, Project Manager Marketing and Communications at Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing & Cloud Cloud sovereignty is at the heart of the recent activities of the Dutch Gaia-X Hub, represented by the Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing & Cloud (CoE-DSC). During the Data Sharing Festival in Rotterdam, more than 300 professionals from the Netherlands and abroad came together for two days of sharp insights, open conversations, collaboration and concrete examples around the theme of sovereignty. Sectors can only share data safely and responsibly when they jointly invest in shared frameworks such as the Gaia-X Trust Framework, interoperability and privacy-enhancing technologies. Download the keynote presentations and watch the after movie, including a contribution by Gaia-X CTO Christoph Strnadl: Data Sharing Festival 2026 – Centre of Excellence for Data Sharing & Cloud. The team won the first prize with the development of a neurosymbolic workflow that combines different types of AI to enable a smart search function in digital marketplaces, automatic checks on whether services are compatible (e.g. Through technological innovation, national and international collaboration, and a strong focus on high-value use cases, the Netherlands is becoming a driving force in European cloud sovereignty.