The DIGISOV project, with the support of the Chair in Digital regulation at University of Paris-Panthéon-Assas, is organizing a workshop bringing together researchers and practitioners to discuss “Digital Dependencies” on Tuesday 9 December 2025 from 2.00 to 6.00 p.m. at:

Amphithéâtre 28
Institut de Droit Comparé
28 rue Saint Guillaume
75006 Paris

Presentations will be in English and admission is free.
Download the full program here.

Presentation

In a world where nearly every aspect of life is mediated by technology, our growing “digital dependencies” have profound social, political, and economic consequences. From reliance on foreign cloud infrastructures and electronic components to dependence on a handful of global platforms for communication, trade, and knowledge, these invisible ties contribute to the shaping of power relations in the digital age.

The workshop “Digital Dependencies”, organized in the frame of the ANR DIGISOV project, brings together researchers and technologists and invites reflection on how such dependencies emerge—and how states, societies and communities work towards building digital systems that they deem autonomous, resilient, and democratic within such a scenario.

Through critical interdisciplinary discussion and shared perspectives, we will explore questions of control, access, and responsibility in an interconnected technological ecosystem. What does it mean to be digitally (in-)dependent in today’s digital world? What does it mean to be digitally sovereign? Can dependency coexist with autonomy? And how might collective action, open technologies, and policy innovation redefine our digital future?

Program

14.00-14.15: Introduction

Benjamin Loveluck (CERSA, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University)
Francesca Musiani (CIS/CNRS)

14.00-15.45: Assessing Digital Dependencies
Chair: Riccardo Nanni (CIS/CNRS)

Johannes Thumfart (CD2I, Brussels School of Governance)
Digital Sovereignty and the Postliberal Era: Symptom or Remedy?

Maximilian Mayer (University of Bonn)
Interpreting New Data from the Digital Dependencies Index (DDI): Emerging Bipolar Structure of Digital Dependency and Europe’s Position

Ophélie Coelho (CARISM, Paris-Panthéon-Assas University and CIS/CNRS)
Where Power Passes: Territorial Bottlenecks in a Fragmented Digital “Sovereignty”

15.45-16.00: Coffee break

16.00-17.30: Countering Digital Dependencies
Chair: Ksenia Ermoshina (CIS/CNRS)

Robin Berjon (Deputy director, IPFS Foundation)
Protocols & Institutions: What Democracy Are We Countering Dependencies With?

Holger Krekel (Managing director, merlinux and Lead developer, Delta Chat)
Sustaining Private Identities and Private Chatting in the Surveillance Age

Margot François (GEODE, Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint-Denis University)
Cuban Technological Sovereignty Discourse: Geopolitical Representations of a Digital David vs. Goliath

17.30-17.45: Conclusions