Germany, France to set up cloud data project

Germany and France on Thursday launched a project to set up a European cloud computing platform that y hope will enhance European ecomic sovereignty in wake of coronavirus crisis and break continent's dependence on U.S. and Chinese companies. platform, entitled GAIA-X, is meant to be up and running — at least in proto form — at beginning of next year and be open to users from outside Europe that commit to here to European standards.

German Ecomy Peter Altmaier said that aim is "thing less than a European moonshot in digital policy."

Germany and France will set up a n-profit association to coordinate and organize data infrastructure, Altmaier said.

Conceived last year and initially anunced in October, GAIA-X follows on heels of an existing push by European Union's two biggest ecomies to set up a car battery consortium aimed at catching up with Asian rivals.

two countries said project has brought toger 22 companies in France and Germany, including Dassault Systemes, Orange, Siemens, SAP, Robert Bosch and Deutsche Telekom. y didn't give financial details.

French Ecomy Minister Bru Le Maire called on "all or European companies and countries" to join initiative.

Beyond that, " idea is that we invite companies across world providing ir cloud services according to European standards and rules," Altmaier said. "Everyone who wants to have label of GAIA-X will have to respect and to satisfy several sets of rules," including on interoperability and data migration.

He said that project's success "will be crucial for Germany, for France and for Europe as far as our ecomic strength, our competitivity and our sovereignty are concerned."