90%

The Fede­ral Council’s Foreign Policy Stra­tegy 2020–2023 saw digi­ta­li­sa­tion be included as an inde­pen­dent thema­tic focus for the first time. This resul­ted in the Digi­tal Foreign Policy Stra­tegy 2021–2024, which defi­nes the fields of action arising from the Fede­ral Council’s digi­tal foreign policy. The foraus discus­sion paper ‘Reality checking the ambi­ti­ons of Swiss digi­tal foreign policy’ considers that the funda­men­tal stance of Switzerland’s digi­tal foreign policy is coher­ent. Swiss inte­rests are also to be safe­guarded in the digi­tal sphere, Switzerland’s role within global digi­ta­li­sa­tion gover­nance streng­the­ned and digi­ta­li­sa­tion incor­po­ra­ted into exis­ting commit­ments, such as deve­lo­p­ment policy. The stra­tegy also states that Switz­er­land is commit­ted to ‘suita­ble frame­work condi­ti­ons for a global digi­ti­sa­tion and data policy’ that ‘promote access to and use of data for social and econo­mic development’.

Switz­er­land: not a data island

The Data Ecosys­tem Switz­er­land cont­act point went into opera­tion on 15 July of this year. Its aim is to support autho­ri­ties, compa­nies and orga­ni­sa­ti­ons in estab­li­shing trust­wor­thy data spaces and making better use of the poten­tial this offers in Switz­er­land. The cont­act point also works with inter­na­tio­nal part­ners to ensure that Swiss data spaces are compa­ti­ble with Euro­pean and global initia­ti­ves. In the Euro­pean context, Switz­er­land is faced with the chall­enge of safe­guar­ding its digi­tal sove­reig­nty while simul­ta­neously reaping the bene­fits of a shared data economy. The incre­asing concen­tra­tion of data amongst a small number of inter­na­tio­nal tech conglo­me­ra­tes, which account for 90 percent of the data coll­ec­ted world­wide, heigh­tens the urgency of shoring up digi­tal inde­pen­dence further. Inter­na­tio­nal compa­ti­bi­lity is essen­tial in this respect, as the Swiss Data Alli­ance points out in its white paper ‘The Euro­pean data space from a Swiss perspec­tive’: ‘Switz­er­land as a data island is not merely an illu­sion; it is also in no way desi­ra­ble. There is a risk that private compa­nies, public bodies and rese­arch insti­tu­ti­ons will lose access to the market for data-based services and inno­va­tions in the Euro­pean area.’ He concludes that ‘Switz­er­land must ensure that it is connec­ted to the emer­ging Euro­pean data spaces’.

Cross-border data ecosystems

The EU has been working on crea­ting sector-speci­fic data spaces since 2020; at present, Euro­pean data spaces are being deve­lo­ped for 14 areas. These are inten­ded to provide a secure data infra­struc­ture within which Euro­pean stake­hol­ders can coll­ect and share data. A third coun­try, like Switz­er­land, could bene­fit from access to the data – but this requi­res tech­ni­cal inter­ope­ra­bi­lity, poli­ti­cal coope­ra­tion and trust in Swiss secu­rity stan­dards. This is where digi­tal deve­lo­p­ment in Switz­er­land also harbours oppor­tu­ni­ties for phil­an­thro­pic enga­ge­ment: as neutral inter­me­dia­ries and acce­le­ra­tors of inno­va­tion, non-profit stake­hol­ders can help shape trust­wor­thy data spaces. They can support projects that promote data sove­reig­nty, digi­tal inclu­sion and trans­pa­rency, deve­lo­ping plat­forms on which civil society orga­ni­sa­ti­ons can secu­rely share data and colla­bo­rate on solu­ti­ons – for exam­ple, in the field of deve­lo­p­ment cooperation.