A certain Lenin has written that" there are decades where nothing happens and weeks where decades happen ". In a few weeks, the pandemic of sars coronavirus was taken by surprise of european countries ill-prepared to accelerate sharply the pace of digitisation of our societies : governments, students and businesses have had to learn, sometimes for the first time, to working entirely digitally.
We discovered together that the software house France turned today on major digital platforms in the united states. Amazon, Zoom, WhatsApp, Netflix, Facebook, Instagram, or even Microsoft Teams have become the main tools of our daily life. To such a point that our digital networks, which we repeatedly said that they were among the best in the world, could not support the load. This, to the point that the government has asked Netflix, YouTube and other platforms, bandwidth-intensive to provide to the French videos in low resolution...
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Never in its history France has been also dependent. And this, in spite of the important investments of recent years as well as a technical know-how recognized in the whole world. Wanting to copy at any price the Silicon Valley, without understanding that the digital world u.s. has not been designed to have competitors, we are 10 years after the great loan and billion euros of the French Tech in a stalemate on economic, tax, and policy.
Caught in the crossfire between America antieuropéenne of Trump and China's authoritarian, which is defined now as a digital power conquering, the place of Europe in the new world is no longer ensured.
the question of The becoming digital of France and of Europe is now an existential question : do we need to continue to support the hypergrowth of the major digital platforms (Gafam), where the accumulation of data take precedence over the ethics and the value of individuals ? Or should we, instead, invent another digital in-phase with the necessary ecological transition, able to include all citizens, and especially to match the singular vision that we Europeans and especially we French, have of the world ?
It is necessary to put in place an ambitious industrial policy.
It is still possible to go back to the hand, but it will be necessary to put in place an ambitious industrial policy, pro-active, and how to do it without having to fear to step away from the dogmas of the Silicon Valley, who today show their limits.
The first priority should be that of the sovereignty. It is not a goal in itself, but an essential component in our decisions so that whole segments of the data of the state services in the economy, intelligence, transport, energy as well as in health and education are outsourced to companies extraeuropéennes. As we have seen in the hosting of health data with the Health Data Hub, to which the government has chosen Microsoft.
Create a "task force" that brings together all of the regulators competent on the question of digital platforms. It would allow the implementation of a true strategic cooperation between these regulators in order to bring together the best specialists within the State in each area (technology, security, taxation, competition law...).
Support the european industry to host data and free software. It is necessary to support by the command public the implementation of a service offer competitive in terms of hosting data. The potential of this sector is considerable in France and it is the synergy between accommodation and free software that will allow us to resume a leadership that is at your fingertips.
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implement a digital transition to be sustainable and ethical, which combines digital transition and ecological transition. France also needs to build the digital public service international best. If Estonia is known for having been one of the first countries to have digitized its public services, France has become the first State to put in front of the digital services that combine minimization of the use of the data, accommodation located in France, use of technologies of the open Web and free software.
Redirect the roadmap of public funding for the French Tech. The State must give the example and arrow shooter, public aid, direct and indirect, in favor of players whose economic model is not based on the larger american platforms hungry for our data. It is no longer acceptable that the resource tax is used to promote a vision that is contrary to our interests and our values. As the United States, China or India, it will be crucial to define the list of our digital assets strategic.
Out of the myth of unicorns to promote the development of a humus of SMES and ETI. The Face of the crisis of the Covid-19 and the cold war in technology between the United States and China, the role of the State is not to keep valuations of start-ups that are not in line with the reality of the market but to help grow businesses solid and sustainable, capable of developing their international activities. For this, it is necessary to encourage merging with other european actors in the same sector in order to build global giants.
Include all the "workers of the click" in our social pact. The work is little or not qualified, has exploded with the digital platforms. These jobs are the great forgotten in our transition to digital, to the point that it became the adjustment variable of these companies. It is essential to "réhumaniser" in this sector and to ensure that these new workers in the digital have the same social protections that the rest of society.
The digital transition is a jump into the unknown, risk taking is necessary in the face of players who are far from having our interests at heart. In the coming years, France and Europe must carry out a background to make their mark on the technology ecosystem. And not, as was too often the case, to copy poorly the concepts come from across the Atlantic, hoping that by some unlikely magic, they will become the solution to all our problems.
another digital is possible, let's invent it together !
* French Web Pioneer, serial entrepreneur (Netvibes and Jolicloud, in particular) and former vice-president of the national Council of the digital, Tariq Krim has launched Polite.one, a platform that wants to allow users to regain control of their digital life.
