Preface

Broadly speaking, connection is important to society. Whether it concerns digital connectivity or human contact, strong connections ensure that we stand stronger together. This has, of course, been the guiding principle of NBIP for many years and forms the foundation of our operational services. Particularly in times of geopolitical change and tensions, it is crucial to maintain unity within the sector and society as a whole, and to demonstrate resilience.

Over the past calendar year, digital sovereignty has taken centre stage in national and European debate. The key question is how Europe can strengthen its own position and reduce dependencies, as quickly as possible where feasible. At our annual NBIP NEXT event in November 2025, we therefore organised a second day dedicated to this topic for the first time. One of the speakers was Cristina Caffarra from EuroStack. In less than two years, Caffarra has become one of the most prominent advocates for a sovereign European tech stack, including digital infrastructure. In no uncertain terms, she put her finger on the sore spot: Europe must focus on its economic future and build concrete, sovereign solutions, rather than continuing to fixate on regulation.

At NBIP, we are doing our bit to contribute to this. For a number of years now, we have been participating in European initiatives and development projects, such as IPCEI-CIS, through which we are working alongside many others to build a sovereign digital future for Europe. The aim is to consolidate and expand this position in the coming years by working with industry to develop Made in Europe services based on open source.

There are now 20 staff members working every day at NBIP to ensure a reliable internet, each drawing on their own area of expertise. In doing so, we are continuing to build on our mission: to provide shared facilities for digital infrastructure providers, so that they can ensure their digital resilience and compliance with laws and regulations are in order. The fact that we have been able to welcome so much talent in such a short space of time, and that we are working together towards the future, is something of which I, as general director, am proud every day.

Finally, new legislation and regulations continue to present new challenges for our sector. One example of this is the eEvidence package for electronic evidence, which will enable competent authorities from EU Member States to request data directly from digital service providers. This package is expected to have a major impact on digital service providers across the board, and certainly on our sector as well. As NBIP, we will provide our participants (and, where possible, the wider sector) with more comprehensive guidance in this area, as well as on other legislation and regulations such as the DSA. Over the past year, the initial plans for implementing these have been drawn up, and they will become a reality in 2026.

In this updated Annual Monitor, you can read more about all of NBIP’s activities in 2025.

I hope you enjoy reading it.

Octavia de Weerdt

General Director, NBIP