PRESS RELEASE
Bruno Le Maire and Jean-Noël Barrot reaffirm the national strategy for the Cloud and announce new measures in favor of the sector
For Europe and for France, the cloud constitutes undeniable economic potential whose turnover will represent more than €560 billion in Europe in 2030 [1] .Beyond this economic imperative, the cloud constitutes a major pillar of France's political and digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy. Indeed, data protection is an important concern for our citizens, synonymous with freedom and vector of our independence from the rest of the world.Bruno Le Maire and Jean-Noël Barrot are today renewing their digital ambition and their support for the cloud ecosystem, a key issue in the digital transformation of our companies and our administration.In order to meet the challenges in terms of economic and technological sovereignty and data protection, the Government launched, on May 17, 2021, a national strategy for the cloud, the ambition of which is based on three pillars :
- the SecNumCloud visa which guarantees a high level of protection for particularly sensitive data
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- the “cloud at the Center” doctrine as a priority lever for the digital transformation of administrations
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- the cloud acceleration strategy, as part of France 2030, with €1.8 billion, including €667 million in public funding, €680 million in private co-financing and €444 million in European funding
This national strategy is producing initial concrete results.
The first assessment is positive: the strengthening of the SecNumCloud visa is already a success among suppliers with 7 qualified offers , supported by Cloud Temple, OVHCloud, Oodrive, Outscale and Worldline. As a result, administrations have doubled their volume of contracts awarded with SecNumCloud offers.In addition, as part of the cloud acceleration strategy planned in France 2030, around twenty innovative and high added-value projects have already been financed for €380 million .However, it is important to go even further .During their trip to Strasbourg for the inauguration of the OVHCloud data center, Bruno Le Maire and Jean-Noël Barrot presented the following five measures:1. Support for obtaining the SecNumCloud visa for our SMEs Obtaining the SecNumCloud visa is, for some cloud players, a long, complex and costly process, and therefore a barrier that the government intends to remove .ANSSI (National Agency for Information Systems Security) will implement a qualification support system worth 2.5 million euros, which will be aimed at startups and SMEs that offer PaaS / SaaS ( platform as a service / software as a service ) services that can contribute to the modernization and resilience of businesses and administrations.2. Strengthening and clarifying the doctrine in order to better support the digital transformation of our administrationsThe digitalization of our administrations and services in a framework of trust is a top political priority. In order to strengthen the protection of economic players, the government will clarify the concept of particularly sensitive data. Public and private buyers will thus be better guided towards the use or not of SecNumCloud certified offers. Companies, particularly the most strategic among them, are invited to quickly seize this essential tool for the security of their data. In addition, to support administrations in their migration to the Cloud and accelerate this imperative transformation, a support mission will be launched and managed by the Interministerial Digital Directorate .3. An ambitious regulatory framework at the level of the European Union is essential for building digital sovereignty that is on a par with the technological changes we are experiencing.
- Through a harmonized and ambitious European cyber security plan for the cloud:
The government hopes for the success of European negotiations aimed at establishing a harmonized European cyber security certification scheme for cloud services. Taking into account the imperative need for protection and transparency with regard to non-European legislation with extraterritorial scope (in other words the transfer of our data abroad) at the highest level is a key factor today. for the success of this scheme.
- Through a data regulation (“Data Act”) to rebalance the cloud market:
The draft data regulation, led by European Commissioner Thierry Breton, whose initiative the government welcomes, must notably result in the implementation of ambitious provisions which will make it possible to rebalance the cloud market today largely dominated by a trio of non-European actors .4. The need for the European Commission to validate as soon as possible the Important Project of Common European Interest (IPIEC) [2] Cloud, a large-scale European project worth €5 billion so that the Cloud of tomorrow is invented inNear Europe of 60 projects involving 180 European companies (including Amadeus, Atos, Orange and OVHCloud in France) from twelve Member States of the Union [3] joined forces to invent the next generation of cloud and Edge Computing services . They have been working for almost two years to develop this major European project, the total investment envelope of which is estimated at €5 billion (public/private co-financing).The IPCEI Cloud represents an ambitious policy of industrial support for innovation in the cloud and contributes to achieving technological sovereignty and achieving Europe's digital and ecological transition.The Government reaffirms its commitment to this project being adopted in the coming months.5. The foreshadowing of a “trusted digital” sector strategy committee entrusted to Michel Paulin to improve dialogue between the State and the ecosystemIn order to respond to the demand of trusted digital players, the ministers announce the creation a new “trusted digital” sector strategic committee (CSF). This common forum for exchanges with the State will encourage cooperation and contribute to the emergence of a competitive French offer in the coming years. Michel Paulin, CEO of OVHCloud, is responsible for making a proposal to ministers, within 6 months, on the composition, governance and objectives of this new CSF, ensuring good coordination with the existing CSFs (security industries and Industry of the future in particular).Bruno Le Maire, Minister of the Economy, Finance and Industrial and Digital Sovereignty:“With Jean-Noël Barrot we have a strong ambition for the construction of French and European digital sovereignty .We are building a sovereign cloud industry to make France and the European Union the spearhead of digital innovation in the decades to come. During the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union, many digital issues were successfully completed. I am thinking in particular of the DSA and DMA regulations. France continues to be fully committed to the adoption of new texts such as the Data Act and EUCS. We are defending ambitious positions in order to build an open, fair regulatory framework that is conducive to competition and innovation.Jean-Noël Barrot, Minister Delegate for the Digital Transition and Telecommunications:" The cloud is an essential driver of innovation and growth that supports the digital transformation of our businesses and administrations. Today, the government is renewing its digital ambition and its support for a bold cloud ecosystem. We are convinced that it will contribute significantly to guaranteeing our sovereignty and strategic autonomy. In this, with Bruno Le Maire, we welcome today the opening of the new data center of OVHCloud, a leading French player ."