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72% of France’s cloud budget vanishes into the hands of providers like AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.
- Capital flight and lost expertise: While our engineers are among the best, our investments are leaking beyond our borders. This imbalance strengthens the dominance of tech giants and erodes our strategic leverage.
- Digital sovereignty at risk: When infrastructure control is outsourced, France loses its ability to negotiate and assert its choices. Every euro spent abroad undermines our autonomy in a sector where data is the new source of power.
Once symbols of French innovation, Minitel and Cyclades are now distant memories. Today, our sovereign cloud projects appear stuck in a narrow, overly technical approach.
- Outdated vision: Recent initiatives focus almost exclusively on infrastructure, overlooking software innovation — the very element that adds the value needed to compete with the integrated offerings of American tech giants.
- Disproportionate investments: While international projects attract tens of billions — for example, around €25 billion for solutions like Office 365 in Europe — local initiatives struggle to reach €15 million. This financial gap highlights the challenge of turning ambition into a truly sovereign reality.
- Lack of synergy: The absence of a collaborative ecosystem between startups, industry players, and public institutions further weakens these efforts. Instead of uniting talents and resources, initiatives remain scattered and poorly coordinated.
A rigid economic model that stifles innovation
The current structure, weighed down by administrative complexity and rigid procurement procedures, hinders the agility required in a fast-moving sector.
- Bureaucracy and risk aversion:
Strict public procurement rules and institutional inertia lock France into an outdated approach to managing digital projects. This framework suppresses risk-taking and experimentation — both critical to innovating in a dynamic field like cloud computing.
- Flawed governance:
A culture of status quo and the absence of a cohesive vision — one that combines infrastructure, software, and distribution — keeps France on the sidelines of major technological shifts. Rethinking these mechanisms is essential to unleash the full potential of our engineers and entrepreneurs.
For France to regain control of its digital future, a fundamental rethink of its cloud model is essential. Strategic investments must be made, administrative procedures modernized, and talent united around a shared vision. Only bold transformation can turn current weaknesses into strengths — and secure France a leading role in tomorrow’s digital economy.
