CISERO Contributes to Strategic Discussions on Europe’s Digital Sovereignty at NexusForum2025

5–6 November 2025 | Brussels, Belgium

As Europe advances towards its 2030 digital and climate objectives, NexusForum2025: AI, Cloud & Sustainability for Europe’s Digital Sovereignty gathered policymakers, researchers, and industry leaders to discuss how Europe can reinforce technological independence while upholding openness, sustainability, and shared prosperity. 

The CISERO project played an active role in these exchanges, emphasising the importance of interoperability, open source, and collaboration in shaping a resilient European cloud-edge infrastructure. 

CISERO Moderates Panel on the New IPCEI-CIS Reference Architecture 

On 6 November, Matthias Kuom (DLR, CISERO Coordinator) moderated a panel discussion on the IPCEI-CIS Reference Architecture, joined by Pawel Maslowski (Chief Innovation Officer, Oktawave), Mauro Renato Boldi (European Project Manager, TIM), and Andreas Schlosser (BTP Cross-Projects, SAP). 

The session explored how the architectural framework, that is currently as a collaborative effort being developed under the IPCEI-CIS initiative, can strengthen Europe’s cloud-edge capabilities through interoperability, federation, and security. The first version of the Reference Architecture was published in mid-2025, while the second version will be published by the end of 2025. Speakers underlined that collaboration between industry and research is essential to accelerate the deployment of scalable, trustworthy European cloud-edge services, but quality, security and trust are even more important. 

Key Insights from NexusForum2025 

Discussions across the two-day forum highlighted the growing convergence of AI, cloud, and sustainability, and how these domains collectively define Europe’s path to digital sovereignty. 

From the perspective of CISERO’s participation, several key messages emerged: 

• EU Cloud Policy: Early results from the IPCEI-CIS initiative were recognised as promising steps towards a federated European cloud for public administrations.
• Defining Sovereignty: The debate on the newly published EU Sovereign Cloud Framework revealed diverse views on how strictly sovereignty should be defined—whether as a clear set of rules or a flexible concept adaptable to different contexts. Professor Andrew A. Adams from the Meiji University argued that lasting sovereignty underscored the need for governance, openness, and sustainability as Europe’s competitive edge. In this sense, CISERO will continue to support the IPCEI-CIS actors in achieving this.
• Open Source as a Cornerstone: As highlighted by Stéfane Fermigier, open source became essential for Europe’s technological autonomy, enabling transparency, reversibility, and collective innovation.
• Collaborative Business Models: Speakers such as Mauro Brambilla emphasised the need for cultural change to encourage collaboration across providers and make federated clouds as accessible as hyperscaler solutions. 

Looking Ahead 

The discussions at NexusForum2025 reaffirmed the importance of aligning technological progress with European values and long-term sustainability. Through its coordination and community-building efforts, CISERO continues to support the IPCEI-CIS ecosystem in developing interoperable, energy-efficient, and sovereign cloud-edge solutions for Europe’s digital future. 

Building on these exchanges, CISERO invites the community to join its upcoming webinar, “OpenSource in Cloud Infrastructure for IPCEI-CIS: Challenges, Opportunities and Strategic Pathways,” to further explore how open source can drive innovation and collaboration across Europe’s cloud-edge landscape.

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