From 2022 to 2024, Europe’s digital deficit rose to over $350 billion, with implications for defense and strategic autonomy, a trend amplified by Ireland’s influential tech presence.

A revamped Digital Independence Index (DDI) will cover more than 50 nations, expanding indicators to better measure digital dependencies, vulnerabilities, and costs.

Vodafone Institute will support the DDI overhaul, including a redesigned, more accessible web interface to improve clarity and breadth of data.

The DDI revamp will broaden geographic coverage and provide clearer analysis of regional and global trends in digital capacity, dependencies, and costs.

Key researchers Maximilian Mayer and Michael Jungwirth emphasize aligning trade and industry policy to strengthen digital resilience and sovereignty.

Europe risks losing digital autonomy amid hidden dependencies on the US and China, despite a large digital trade surplus driven by Ireland’s concentration of US firms.

Europe aims to reduce reliance on foreign digital technologies by boosting European innovation in chips, cloud, and AI, according to a policy brief from the University of Bonn and Vodafone Institute.

The so‑called Ireland effect shows US tech firms’ concentration in Ireland boosts Europe’s apparent digital trade strength; removing these firms reveals a significant underlying deficit.

Dependence on China for digital goods adds to Europe’s imbalance, underscoring gaps in current strategies to achieve autonomy.

The Ireland effect and US presence highlight how Europe’s apparent strength can mask a deeper deficit in underlying digital capacity.

Authors urge the European Commission to bolster manufacturing and competitiveness, cut dependence on China for digital goods, and pursue sovereignty-focused, public‑private tech partnerships.

Recommendations include strengthening Europe’s manufacturing base, reducing digital goods reliance on China, and fostering multi‑stakeholder partnerships with a sovereignty-oriented policy language.