Digital sovereignty can be defined as a country’s ability to use its own digital environments, independent from foreign interference. It has become increasingly prominent in debates about science, technology and innovation policy.
The UK, like many nations, is reliant on knowledge, technologies, components and raw materials from other countries, and stores some of its data in countries that might have legal rights to information stored on local servers. These raise questions about the extent to which digital sovereignty might be feasible, and also how it may create tensions with other priorities, such as using international partnerships to support innovation or economic growth.
A POSTnote on this topic will provide an overview of the digital sovereignty, the potential benefits, and the risks and limitations of such an approach. The POSTnote would cover data sovereignty, and also concerns over the UK having sovereign capability over important technologies. It would also research how other governments are addressing this issue internationally.