Sovereignty is not a solo act

Why Germany, united with fellow EU member states and Canada, is stronger in AI.

The enterprise leaders I speak with want three things from AI. They want it to work. They want it to deliver value at scale. And, they want to be free to use it their way.

The first two once took precedence over the third. Not today. In the past year, I’ve had more conversations with CEOs about who controls their data, processes, and business knowledge than in the previous ten years combined.

Governments are asking the same questions boards are asking.

Who controls the infrastructure? Where does the data live? What happens if a vendor’s priorities change? Can we leave if we want to?

That’s what digital sovereignty means. Not walls that lock you in, but the freedom to choose.

Germany, Canada and the EU: Shared values, strong partners on AI

Canada and Europe have reached the same conclusion and are acting on it.

In December 2025, the European Union and Canada held the first meeting of the EU-Canada Digital Partnership Council. Canada and the EU committed to “advancing digital sovereignty over technology, data, and digital infrastructure.”

That same month, Canada and Germany announced a Digital Alliance to “accelerate collaboration on artificial intelligence (AI), digital sovereignty, digital infrastructure, quantum and innovation in the digital economy.”

And in February, at the Munich Security Conference, the two countries signed a joint declaration on AI and launched the Sovereign Technology Alliance to “strengthen sovereign AI capacity and reduce strategic technology dependencies.”

Canada and the EU are right.

Sovereignty doesn’t mean going it alone. It’s the belief that people and organizations should have agency over their data, their systems, and their digital future.

No country or company can build the entire AI stack by itself. Sovereignty means choosing your partners deliberately, based on the values you share: the rule of law, open markets, and the conviction that data belongs to the people and companies who create it.

Technology should strengthen democratic principles by expanding the ability of people, companies, and nations to decide, act, and improve. We stand for transparency over opacity, accountability over convenience, and choice over dependency. We stand against the use of technology, data, and infrastructure as tools of coercion or control. We believe digital sovereignty should be shared, not solitary.

That is why we're working to build what we believe in—a platform that is resilient, trustworthy, and aligned with the legal environments in which our customers operate.

We also believe in Canada. The country has built one of the deepest AI talent pools in the world, and Toronto is where much of the foundational work behind deep learning and artificial intelligence was done.

Celonis has a presence in Canada and is committed to North America—one of our headquarters is in New York City. We are exploring additional investments in the region and expanding our footprint in Toronto with a center of excellence for applied AI.

Sovereignty isn't isolation. It’s choosing who you build with.

Germany, Canada and the EU don’t need to be convinced that they share the same values. What they need is people in the same room, building things together.

The same goes for your business. You don’t have to choose between moving fast on Enterprise AI and staying in control of it. You have to pick your partners carefully, and hold fast to your values.

Because values matter most when they are tested, not when they are convenient.