Digital sovereignty in practice: IKARUS and HarfangLab as a success story for European cybersecurity

3. December, 2025

Digital sovereignty has become a buzzword in recent years — one that has gained momentum fast, yet is still understood in very different ways. That is exactly why we intentionally “put it to the test” at our high-level event at the French Embassy in Vienna, together with senior representatives from business, the public sector, and research.

In his opening remarks, H.E. Matthieu Peyraud, French Ambassador to Austria, highlighted how profoundly the security environment has changed: Europe is now among the regions most targeted in cyberspace worldwide — and Europe’s ability to prevent attacks, withstand them, and recover quickly is no longer a luxury, but a prerequisite for security, prosperity, and trust. Equally clear was his call for Europe to strengthen its capacity to act: lasting European security requires a solid industrial and technological base in Europe.

Our aim was to explore digital sovereignty from multiple perspectives — and at the same time to show how it can already be implemented step by step in practice. A tangible example of this is the bilateral success story of IKARUS and HarfangLab, which our CEOs presented right afterwards.

Strategic autonomy: IKARUS & HarfangLab as a model partnership

“I don’t really like the term digital sovereignty. I prefer to talk about strategic autonomy,” emphasized Grégoire Germain, CEO of HarfangLab, right at the start. Autonomy means the ability to act — and that does not happen by itself. It requires clear management-level decisions to invest deliberately in European technologies.

Joe Pichlmayr, CEO of IKARUS, highlighted an additional strategic benefit: a growing European sensor network makes it possible to develop our own European threat intelligence — more precise, faster, and independent of non-European data sources. “Digital autonomy is not only about reducing dependencies, but also about building our own capabilities and data,” Pichlmayr noted.

Together, IKARUS and HarfangLab are pursuing a clear vision: to build a high-performing European cybersecurity ecosystem as an independent alternative to today’s dominant tech providers — powered by alliances, specialization, and the combination of Europe’s strengths.

Expert panel: what digital sovereignty means for Europe today

Under the excellent moderation of Birgit Fenderl, our expert panel brought different perspectives together. The points below highlight some of the key themes discussed.

Günter Koinegg, Head of Global Cybersecurity Services at Atos and ECSO board member, pointed out that a very large share of European investment still flows into U.S. technologies. This is not a question of quality — Europe has world-class know-how, education, and research. The real challenge lies in scaling these strengths and bringing them consistently into practice.

Horst Bischof, Rector of TU Graz and representative of one of Europe’s leading universities in technical cybersecurity, agreed: Europe has the best researchers and engineers in the world — but scalability and, above all, speed remain key bottlenecks. Artificial intelligence has further accelerated the race between attack and defense; Europe’s systems need to keep up.

From a legal perspective, Andreas Eustacchio, attorney specializing in IT, AI, and cybersecurity, described another tension: technological change is moving faster than legislation. Regulatory frameworks such as NIS2 and DORA are important drivers — but relying on fear of penalties is the wrong approach. What matters is that organizations understand the real damage caused by insufficient cybersecurity: incidents and system recovery are enormously costly and threaten business continuity.

Andreas Grigull, Sales Director Corporate Central Europe at OVHcloud, was optimistic. In his view, digital sovereignty — and thus autonomy and resilience — is a prerequisite for Europe to remain globally competitive. Europe can overcome current hurdles if it has the courage to consistently use its own technologies, trust in itself, and invest in its strengths.

What we take away from the evening

The discussion made one point unmistakably clear: the prerequisites for digital sovereignty are in place. Europe’s challenge is not a lack of knowledge or capability, but consistent — and above all fast — implementation, especially where strategic decisions are made.

During the networking that followed, it also became clear how strong the interest is in concrete next steps and how valuable open exchange across organizational and professional boundaries remains.

What is needed now to support and accelerate Europe’s path forward:

Fewer barriers between member states, for example through harmonized implementation of regulations
Strong partnerships between European organizations to combine forces and strengthen a European mindset
Targeted and long-term funding programs that not only launch talent and start-ups, but retain them
A Europe-first perspective in public and private procurement to scale European solutions systematically

Digital sovereignty remains an important buzzword — one that can and should be translated into real-world action.

Practical tip:

If you want to take a first concrete step toward digital sovereignty at the endpoint, our upcoming webinar will provide hands-on insights and a live demo of our Franco-Austrian EDR & EPP solution.

Webinar Registration

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