At the end of Vivatech, the CEO of the Iliad group, Thomas Reynaud, launched an appeal without detour to a collective mobilization in favor of European technological sovereignty. In a message published on LinkedIn, it summarizes in a few lines an increasingly shared feeling among digital manufacturers, Europe is still too dependent on foreign technologies, whether American or Chinese, and can no longer allow themselves to wait.
“” No more hesitation. Place “, He wrote at the opening. A direct tone, accompanied by a repeated observation in the exchanges he says he had with the Minister of the Economy, Éric Lombard, the Minister of Industry, Marc Ferracci, and Clara Chappaz, in charge of digital. The leader of the Iliad group, parent company of Free and the operator Cloud Scaleway, detailed six proposals, sent to the public authorities, to strengthen European industrial competitiveness at the AI time.
An exemplary public order
The starting point for Thomas Reynaud’s call is that public power must play a driving role. He pleads for the establishment of a European Buy Acton the model of Buy American Act in the United States. This would make it possible to reserve certain public contracts for European suppliers, or to introduce criteria of technological sovereignty in tenders.
Competitive energy and fiscally aligned
Competitiveness also involves energy. Thomas Reynaud underlines that “ Our competitors access a half cheaper energy ». This cost difference directly penalizes European AI actors, whose calculation needs are extremely energy -consuming. He recalls that artificial intelligence is an industry like any other and that it requires support in the same way as the automobile or chemistry.
Strategic land management
The manager warns against the effects of land speculation, which slows down the rapid installation of critical infrastructure such as data centers. It calls for more fluid and more strategic management of access to land, accompanied by a “fast track” for access to energy. He believes that the benefits of AI should not return almost exclusively to extra-European interests.
Tax and regulatory stability
Thomas Reynaud also insists on the need for consistency and predictability in the regulatory environment. “” We cannot change the rules of the game each year He says. A remark that echoes the many criticisms issued by entrepreneurs on the volatility of tax or environmental standards, and their deterrent in long -term industrial investment.
A harmonized European market
As an extension of the debate on cloud regulation and cybersecurity, the CEO of Iliad calls for a qualification High+ eucs who would not exclude European actors. The European certification project indeed raises many questions, in particular on the criteria of extraterritoriality likely to disadvantage local businesses against AWS, Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud.
An offensive strategy on talent
Finally, it concludes with a fundamental point, the ability to attract, train and retain talents. Thomas Reynaud insists on the need to maintain scientific fields of excellence to meet the challenge of AI and digital technologies, a sine qua non condition to avoid prolonged dependence on the outside.
An industrial vision that goes beyond the telecom framework
By speaking thus, Thomas Reynaud speaks in the name of a generation of industrialists who are no longer content to follow the pace of public policies. Of course he defends the interests of his group, but the state’s interest is to accelerate a coherent industrial policy in the service of European digital autonomy. Scaleway, a cloud of Iliad Cloud, is one of the European suppliers to offer a competitive offer on the infrastructural AI market, faced with American giants largely supported by their states.
This positioning resonates with other speeches like those of OVHCLOUD, EVIDEN or ATOS, which call for a firmer alignment between political discourse and budgetary arbitrations.
