EBU calls for ‘sovereign’ cloud and AI infrastructure in Europe

The position statement was endorsed by the EBU Technical Assembly, gathered at the EBU Technology & Innovation Summit which took place in Dublin from 5-6 June.

At the Technology & Innovation Summit, a full session and panel discussion were dedicated to Sovereign Cloud and Artificial Intelligence (AI) services.

The session, which included contributions from the CTOs of Swedish Television, France Télévisions, SWR/ARD and EBU, as well as a guest speaker of European hyperscaler StackIT, showed that several public service media organisations are already pursuing plans to build complementary data centres under their own control, and that there is broad interest in home-grown European commercial offerings. The reasons, widely shared among the EBU community, include increased operational security, unambiguous regulatory authority, and reduced exposure to geopolitical risk.

The EBU is now inviting collaboration from a broad range of stakeholders – including cloud and AI providers, infrastructure operators, academic institutions, and regulators – to co-create future systems that serve the European public interest.

The aim is to support open and secure media platforms that are under European control, while also promoting innovation in areas such as AI tools in production, enhanced systems for distribution and user interaction, and better integration with third-party platforms.

The statement also sets out a series of follow-up actions, which the EBU intends to coordinate through its Cloud Strategy working group, such as the launch of pilot projects and active engagement with relevant European Union programmes and standardisation bodies.