Dutch universities join forces to break away from reliance on Big Tech

Dutch universities will collaborate more closely to boost digital autonomy and move away from American tech companies.

“The ever-increasing digitalization offers many benefits for universities and science,” Dutch universities agree.

But at the same time, there’s a growing dependence on a limited number of dominant tech companies, each offering their own walled systems or platforms, making it nearly impossible to switch to other suppliers.

In addition, it also concerns the loss of control over digital infrastructures and data, the loss of intellectual property, and fear of undesirable influence from commercial parties and certain governments, the Dutch universities argue.

Most universities in the Netherlands depend on applications and cloud services from, primarily, American tech companies, including Google and Microsoft. The universities state that these services are increasingly “at odds with academic values, ​​such as academic freedom and autonomy, scientific integrity, and openness.”

“The dominance of a limited number of private entities also entails risks related to knowledge, cybersecurity, and trade conflicts. The need to address this is growing in light of geopolitical dynamics. Various social, political, and technological developments necessitate reflection on the risks associated with their dependence on digital infrastructures,” the universities conclude.

There’s a committee in the works that will guide various options to increase the digital autonomy of all Dutch universities, such as establishing rules for joint IT procurement, or to look for alternate IT solutions.

There have been concerns about the Netherlands’ dependence on American tech companies for quite some time.

“In recent years, the Netherlands has become heavily dependent on a limited number of large foreign cloud and IT service providers for its vital processes. This dependence, combined with rapidly changing geopolitical relations, means that the Dutch data protection authority (AP) has no choice but to share its serious concerns about the continuity of vital processes in the Netherlands with you,” the privacy regulator wrote in a letter addressed to the Ministry of Economic Affairs earlier this year.

That’s why Willemijn Aerdts, Minister for the Digital Economy and Sovereignty, said that her Department is working on a “digital emergency kit,” a tool designed to help government agencies and citizens take care of themselves during digital disasters, such as a national internet shutdown.

“I think we’ve been sitting back a little too long and too much. The situation was definitely different a few years ago,” Minister Aerdts said in an interview when asked about the Administration’s emphasis on digital sovereignty.