The Digital Dependence Index is an invaluable resource due to its global coverage and its 14 years of nuanced data. Check out media mentions and related publications here.

Digital Patent Decline. The Economic and Political Costs of Europe’s Shrinking ICT Patent Share

Europe’s digital innovation is declining because European firms lag behind the US and East Asia in creating ICT patents and digital intellectual property. This growing dependence on foreign IP weakens Europe’s competitiveness, political influence, and digital sovereignty, making urgent action necessary. Europe should address its ICT patent gap by systematically incentivizing European patenting and increasing research that turns scientific knowledge into commercial opportunities. In the short to medium term, Europe should strategically manage its dependence on foreign IP by choosing reliable partners and ensuring continued access to essential digital technologies.

• Authors: Laura Mahrenbach, Rogelio Madrueño, Yen-Chi Lu, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Vodafone Institute and CASSIS/University of Bonn.
• Publication date: 2026-07-15
• Language: English

Europe’s Digital Decade Is in Disarray

Under the banner of the European Union’s Digital Decade agenda, Europe is investing in digitalization to protect its industries from shocks and to strengthen digital skills, businesses, and connectivity. Still, much of Europe’s tech value and manufacturing depend on close ties to US Big Tech and heavy reliance on Chinese digital imports. Instead of reactive policies, the EU should focus on a consistent and systematic industrial approach, develop a more strategic and proactive trade policy, increase investment in infrastructure and reverse negative net capital formation to foster innovation, and move on to a narrative of collaboration and resilience through partnership.

Thierry Monasse/Getty Images

• Authors: Laura Mahrenbach, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Project Syndicate
• Publication date: 2026-04-17
• Language: English

Digital trade trap? A wake-up call for the EU’s Digital Decade

Strong growth in Europe’s digital trade seems to support the EU’s Digital Decade goals, but the underlying data reveal two major vulnerabilities: Ireland’s outsized effect on the EU’s digital trade balance and Europe’s heavy reliance on China in digital goods trade. Together, these imbalances imply that Europe’s “surplus” is effectively a deficit, weakening economic gains, increasing geopolitical risk, and limiting digital autonomy. The brief argues Europe must shift to a more coherent, long-term strategy by coordinating industrial and trade policy, targeting trade partnerships with clear near-term benefits while reducing exposure to China, and using multi-aligned diplomacy that frames autonomy and sovereignty as shared objectives rather than isolation.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Laura Mahrenbach, Rogelio Madrueño, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: Vodafone Institute and CASSIS/University of Bonn.
• Publication date: 2026-03-30
• Language: English

Digital Infrastructure and Sino-African Relations: Chinese ICT Companies and African Agency

Africa’s digital transformation is driven not only by challenges such as the digital divide but also by a young, digitally connected population and rapid innovation in fintech, AI, cloud technologies, and smart systems. Chinese companies play a major role in developing Africa’s digital infrastructure, creating opportunities for technological growth while also raising concerns about dependency and “digital imperialism.” However, African countries retain significant agency by using regulation, negotiation, and growing digital capabilities to pursue their interests and balance relationships with China.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu, Alex Demissie
• Source: Africa-China Relations: Partnership, Peonage or Pawnage? (Ed. Lloyd G. Adu Amoah)
• Publication date: 2026-01-29
• Language: English

Erst handeln, dann verfeinern – im technologiebegeisterten China verbreitet sich KI mit beispielloser Geschwindigkeit

Deepseek and its open source strategy are sparking a major AI shift: its fast, low-cost LLM adoption by China could disrupt global AI competition and even challenge European public administrations. In China, governments and cities are rapidly deploying Deepseek-based “digital staff” for administrative tasks because open code is easier to audit, adapt, and train locally without locking into proprietary providers. The text also flags risks such as hallucinations, skills gaps, energy use, and security and privacy concerns. Overall, it argues China is scaling an open-source ecosystem for governance that Europe must respond to, or risk falling far behind.

Florence Lo / Reuters

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Ningjie Zhu
• Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung
• Publication date: 2025-06-13
• Language: German

Global structures of digital dependence and the rise of technopoles

Digital transformation has created growing global dependencies in hardware, platforms, and patents, raising concerns about increasing technological asymmetries and power concentrations. Using the Digital Dependence Index, the study shows that the US and China have emerged as major “technopoles” with high technological autonomy and the ability to potentially weaponise digital infrastructure and technologies. These findings provide a framework for understanding the relationship between digital dependency, technological autonomy, and the emergence of a new techno-geopolitical world order.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: New Political Economy
• Publication date: 2025-05-05
• Language: English

Connectivity and ‘Reglobalization’: India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor and its Potential Digital Future

More than a decade after China launched the Belt and Road Initiative, the US, India, Middle Eastern and European countries unveiled IMEC at the G20 in late 2023, sparking debate over whether it is a genuine alternative to BRI. This paper argues that, despite slow progress, IMEC remains a strategic opportunity to help strengthen middle powers and counter US–China bipolarism and fragmentation. It frames IMEC as part of “corridorization,” a new wave of infrastructure-led globalization and “reglobalization” that reshapes supply chains and innovation networks. It also recommends practical steps to expand key ports, add digital and sustainable-energy components, use the corridor for political stabilization and diplomacy, address Egypt’s Suez-related concerns, and accelerate delivery through private-sector involvement and links to European trade interoperability expertise.

• Authors: Gedaliah Afterman, N. Janardhan, Mohammed Baharoon, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Anwar Gargash Diplomatic Academy
• Publication date: 2025-04-11
• Language: English

U.S.-China Digital Fragmentation Is Putting the World in a Bind

Digital fragmentation is accelerating as the U.S., China, and EU adopt increasingly distinct rules for technology, data, AI, and digital platforms. This fragmentation creates regulatory, economic, technological, and security costs for countries around the world, many of which are responding with ad hoc strategies. The most effective response is likely pragmatic resilience—avoiding confrontation, focusing on short-term results, and pursuing long-term regulatory goals.

China News Service photo by Zhang Yuan via AP

• Authors: Laura Mahrenbach, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: World Politics Review
• Publication date: 2025-01-07
• Language: English

From automation to autonomy: Human machine relations in the age of artificial intelligence

This special issue looks at the transition from automation to autonomy in human–machine relations as AI systems become more capable and blur the boundary between machine and human agency. It brings together philosophical, sociological, and technical perspectives to tackle the difficult problem of assigning autonomy to AI—how it affects human freedom, decision-making, and authority.

• Authors: Caja Thimm, Gabriele Gramelsberger, Maximilian Mayer, Frank Piller
• Source: Human-Machine Communication
• Publication date: 2025-01-01
• Language: English

Digital fragmentations, technological sovereignty and new perspectives on the global digital political economy

This special issue examines how “digital sovereignty” interacts with fragmentation in digital ecosystems and internet governance, raising new questions about the global digital political economy. It reviews how increasing national rules, platform power, and technology rivalry can drive “cyber-Balkanization/Splinternet,” and discusses a typology of fragmentation (technical, governmental, and commercial) while arguing that real-world policy and technology links are more complex than neat categories.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Philip J. Nock
• Source: Global Political Economy
• Publication date: 2024-12-09
• Language: English

Illusionen der Autonomie? Europas Position in den globalen digitalen Abhängigkeitsstrukturen

The analysis examines digital dependence across 37 countries. Although dependence varies widely by sector (software vs. hardware) and by dimensions such as trade, infrastructure, and intellectual property, the overall picture shows a high average level of digital dependence. The results reveal highly asymmetric global structures: the US is far less digitally dependent, while the sharpest asymmetry is in reliance on digital infrastructure; meanwhile, China has reduced its digital dependence over the past decade, but European countries remain highly vulnerable. The findings suggest that common ideas of “digital autonomy” need to be reassessed—within global structures, autonomy for European countries (and most others) remains an illusion.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: SIRIUS – Zeitschrift für Strategische Analysen
• Publication date: 2023-11-30
• Language: German

Digital Autonomy? Measuring the Global Digital Dependence Structure

Debates about “digital sovereignty” often overlook how deeply major economies already rely on foreign digital technologies shaped by decades of globalization and deregulation. The paper presents the Digital Dependence Index (DDI), which measures dependence across 23 countries. While results differ greatly concerning different sectors (software, hardware, and IP) and dimensions (trade, infrastructure), the overall dependence pattern is a high average level of digital dependence. Some countries became more autonomous (e.g., China, South Korea, Russia, Kenya, US) while others saw dependency rise sharply (notably Japan and Indonesia). The DDI also shows strong asymmetries, with the US the least dependent, especially in infrastructure, while European countries remain highly vulnerable and widen their autonomy gap.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: Center for Advanced Security, Strategic and Integration Studies
• Publication date: 2023-04-13
• Language: English

Digitalisierung: Erst abgehängt, dann abhängig

Germany’s promised “digital upturn” has stalled: digital transformation is on low priority, and Germany/Europe are increasingly dependent on US and Chinese technologies, limiting future self-determination. The author cites the Digital Dependence Index to argue that this dependency is measurable and growing, worsened by geopolitical risks like export restrictions. To regain “digital sovereignty,” the author calls for much stronger action than in the digital strategy, especially supporting European digital infrastructure and expanding patenting/IP from across the digital economy, particularly enabling SMEs.

• Authors: Oliver Grün, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Tagesspiegel
• Publication date: 2022-12-01
• Language: German

Autonomie und Polarisierung. Machttheoretische Perspektiven auf globale digitale Plattformen

The text argues that focusing on autonomy and polarization helps analyze platforms through power. It emphasizes that infrastructures also have an ideological “imaginative” dimension, shaping not just processes but alternative normative visions, and power theories are needed to see platforms as socially constructed. It criticizes Europe’s current autonomy discourse as largely defensive, and calls for new strategic narratives that go beyond geopolitical rivalry and Silicon Valley surveillance capitalism, grounded in conceptual views of platforms.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Macht und Machtverschiebung: Schlüsselphänomene internationaler Politik – Festschrift für XuewuGu zum 65. Geburtstag (ed. Hendrik W. Ohnesorge)
• Publication date: 2022-10-22
• Language: German

Power in the Age of Datafication: Exploring China’s Global Data Power

The text argues that fears about China’s growing data power are driving competition, but that China’s actual data power is poorly measured and too often assessed in an unsystematic way. It proposes a new framework using Barnett and Duvall’s power taxonomy plus “stack-layer” concepts to distinguish compulsory, institutional, infrastructural, and productive data power. The study finds that China’s data power is more limited than commonly assumed: the state mainly achieves influence through compulsory and institutional means, while infrastructural and productive power remains constrained. Overall, the case shows how different types of power can develop in tension in a datafied world.

• Authors: Ying Huang, Maximilian Mayer
• Source: Journal of Chinese Political Science
• Publication date: 2022-07-28
• Language: English

Europa hat die Konsequenzen seiner digitalen Abhängigkeit noch kaum erkannt

The growing global autonomy gap makes strategic digital policymaking difficult, and Europe is no exception. For now, digital autonomy is little more than an illusion. Germany and Europe cannot realistically claim digital sovereignty over platforms and digital infrastructures. The Digital Dependency Index (DDI) makes the extent of dependence in software, hardware, and ownership rights visible for the first time by mapping this complex area of strategic digital policy. European countries are shown to be highly vulnerable. The findings call for a more comprehensive European digital policy, greater efforts to reduce ICT and IP dependencies.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• Publication date: 2022-05-03
• Language: German

Auf dem Weg zur digitalen Selbstbestimmung?

The growing global autonomy gap makes strategic digital policymaking difficult, and Europe is no exception. For now, digital autonomy is little more than an illusion. Germany and Europe cannot realistically claim digital sovereignty over platforms and digital infrastructures. The Digital Dependency Index (DDI) makes the extent of dependence in software, hardware, and ownership rights visible for the first time by mapping this complex area of strategic digital policy.

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer, Yen-Chi Lu
• Source: Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung
• Publication date: 2022-05-03
• Language: German

Europe’s Digital Autonomy and Potentials of a U.S.-German Alignment toward China

China’s rise as a digital power regarding both maufacturing and innovation, has intensified geostrategic competition, creating a new front in global digital politics. The US and Germany increasingly align on the need for secure digital infrastructure and on boosting digital competitiveness grounded in shared liberal democratic values. Strong transatlantic cooperation is therefore presented as essential for meeting these goals, with the paper laying out the backdrop to digital policy debates in both countries.

Kevin Tao, President of Huawei, Western Europe via Vodafone Institute

• Authors: Maximilian Mayer
• Source: American-German Institute John Hopkins University
• Publication date: 2020-12-16
• Language: English