European infrastructure, more stringent regulations, a turbulent market: digital sovereignty is back at the center of the debate. But the real challenge isn't just where the data resides, but who controls the process.
The topic of digital sovereignty is not new. It has been discussed for years at conferences, in European policy documents, and on CIO agendas.
But something has changed in recent months, and the change has a precise name: geopolitics. The trade war between the US and China, transatlantic tensions, and the US CLOUD Act, which allows US authorities to access data stored on any server in the world—including those in Europe—have transformed digital sovereignty from a conference topic to a concrete variable in the purchasing decisions of CIOs and IT managers. It's no coincidence that, according to the most recent surveys, 61% of Western European CIOs now declare that geopolitical risks will negatively impact their use of global cloud providers: a percentage that would have been unthinkable five years ago. And now that the debate has ceased to be academic, it has become a concrete pressure on the market, with measurable effects on the technology choices of businesses and public administrations.
As a sponsor of theCloud Ecosystem & Sovereignty Observatory at the Politecnico di Milano —now in its seventeenth year—we are closely monitoring the evolution of this landscape. And what emerges from the Politecnico di Milano research is clear: the concept of digital sovereignty is more complex than it is often portrayed, and companies that approach it superficially risk making the wrong decisions.
The debate that stopped halfway
The dominant narrative on digital sovereignty revolves around infrastructure: data centers in Europe, ACN-certified providerscompliance GDPR, and reducing dependence on American hyperscalers. These are all legitimate and important issues. But there's a blind spot in this conversation that few companies have the courage to raise.
If your data is stored in an Italian data center but your processes—approvals, document management, onboarding workflows—run on platforms whose roadmap, code, and artificial intelligence are governed by American or Asian companies, what sovereignty are we talking about?
Sovereignty is also measured by the ability to control, not just the geolocation of servers. And control, in the corporate digital world, is exercised over processes: how they are modeled, modified, automated, and adapted to ever-evolving regulations.
The procedural dimension: the one that no one measures
Imagine an organization that has invested in acertified and compliant cloud infrastructure , but whose core processes—from application management to internal approvals, from citizen communication to contract management—depend on global vendors who can change terms of service, increase prices, deprecate features, or simply discontinue a product. That organization has a facade of sovereignty.
True operational autonomy is measured by a simple question: if your main application vendor decided to change conditions or exit the Italian market tomorrow, how long would it take to rebuild your digital processes? If the answer is measured in years and millions of euros, the dependency is structural—regardless of where the data is located.
No-code as a factor of sovereignty
It is in this context that the no-code paradigm takes on a meaning that goes far beyond technological simplification. An Italian no-code platform—designed to comply with European regulations, governed by a roadmap independent of the interests of major global players—returns something valuable to organizations: the ability to design, modify, and own their own processes.
When a public body or a private company can independently build and modify its own approval workflows, its own document processes, its own integrations with existing systems — without depending on the development cycles of external vendors, without waiting for updates decided elsewhere — it is exercising a concrete act of digital sovereignty.
This is the model we've chosen with Jamio. Not ideological sovereignty, but operational: the platform is hosted on Microsoft Azure infrastructure with datacenters in Europe, is ISO 27001 and GDPR, but above all, it is governed by an Italian roadmap, with a development team that responds to the needs of the European market and is not subject to transatlantic tax optimization logic.
The Cloud Ecosystem & Sovereignty Observatory at the Polytechnic University of Milan has introduced a specific taxonomy for the Sovereign Cloud, distinguishing between infrastructure sovereignty, data sovereignty, and application sovereignty. It is precisely in this last dimension—the one concerning who controls the business logic—that the Italian market still has much to develop.
Sectors where application sovereignty is critical
Not all contexts are equally sensitive to this issue. But there are sectors where dependence on global application vendors is a real, not just theoretical, risk.
In Public Administration, the ability to adapt processes to rapidly evolving Italian and European regulations—from the Consumer Code to the CAD, from digital signature regulations to certified email management —requires a platform that can be modified quickly, without having to wait for a global vendor to decide to Italianize its product.
In healthcare, managing clinical pathways, clinical risk, and document flows between facilities involves some of the most sensitive data. Relying on non-European application platforms to manage these processes raises legitimate questions—not only about compliance, but also about effective control.
in the world of SMEs, digital sovereignty also depends on the ability to maintain a lean and flexible IT system: being able to adapt processes without engaging costly external consultancy or waiting months for an update is often the difference between an agile organization and one that remains stuck in outdated procedures.
A contribution to the debate, not a definitive answer
We're not here to argue that Made-in-Italy is inherently superior, nor that large global platforms should be avoided a priori. The cloud is complex, and technological choices must meet multiple criteria: cost, maturity, integration, and support.
But we're here to argue that the debate on digital sovereignty can't stop at infrastructure. It must descend to the level where operational decisions are made: who shapes the processes, who can change them, who decides how they evolve.
ThePolitecnico di Milano Observatory is doing fundamental work in measuring and bringing analytical rigor to this topic. As sponsors, we share the same approach: digital sovereignty is built through informed choices, not slogans. And it is measured not only in data centers, but in workflows organizational
Editorial by:
Martin Arborea
co-Founder and Marketing & Sales Director Openwork
Jamio Community Day 2026: The third edition in Milan with DWIT as partner
The community Jamio is getting ready to meet again for the third edition of Jamio Community Day, the annual event dedicated to no-code, innovation, and networking.
The 2026 edition, created in partnership with DWIT (eGlue), will be held in Milan on May 25, 2026, at Copernico Isola for S32.
The theme chosen for this edition – “Builders of Change: the real impact of no-code” – reflects the increasingly central role of no-code platforms in transforming business processes.
Jamio Community Day confirms itself as a moment of discussion between companies, professionals, and decision makers who are already using innovative approaches to rapidly bring complex processes into production, while maintaining governance, scalability, and integration with existing systems.
An evolving ecosystem
The event was created to enhance the Jamio ecosystem and community, highlighting real-world experiences and concrete results achieved in the field. During the afternoon, the community shares use cases, data, and insights on how no-code andAI integration are redefining the way organizations design and develop applications.
The contribution of partner DWIT further strengthens this path, as well as the third edition of JCD 2026, highlighting how domain expertise, combined with an enterprise cloud platform, can transform complex processes into operational solutions quickly.
An event that grows with the community
Now in its third year, Jamio Community Day represents a benchmark for those working in the no-code sector in Italy. This event showcases the evolution of the platform and, more importantly, the organizations using it to build increasingly strategic digital solutions.
Systems Modernization: Innovate Without Disruption
is System modernization no longer synonymous with radical and invasive transformations, but with continuous and sustainable evolution. An incremental approach allows companies to innovate processes, technologies , and integrations without interrupting operations, reducing risks and accelerating results. Moving beyond the model of large, monolithic projects, modernization today develops through progressive interventions that generate immediate value.
At the heart of this change are processes, not just systems: that's where efficiency, decisions, and competitive advantage are created. Technologies like the cloud and no-code enable the connection of what already exists, making innovation faster and more adaptable. At the same time, data becomes a strategic asset, capable of guiding decisions and continuously improving performance.
True success comes from the balance between architectural vision and execution: designing the future of systems, but also realizing it in a concrete and progressive.
