Editor’ s Note
Welcome to the latest edition of CIO Europe. Europe’ s technology landscape is entering a period in which ambition is increasingly being matched by maturity. Artificial intelligence, hybrid cloud, cybersecurity and advanced manufacturing are no longer developing as isolated disciplines. They are becoming interconnected foundations for the next phase of Digital Transformation.
That shift makes questions around control increasingly important. Julio Guijarro, EMEA CTO at Red Hat, explains why digital sovereignty has moved rapidly up the boardroom agenda. As organisations deploy AI across critical operations, they need greater visibility over where workloads run, how information is managed and which technologies underpin their infrastructure.
Open source and hybrid cloud have an important role to play here. Enterprises want the freedom to move workloads between environments while avoiding unnecessary dependence on individual platforms. At the same time, rapidly evolving cyberthreats mean vulnerability management must become faster, more continuous and increasingly integrated into wider technology strategies( p14).
AI itself is also moving beyond the familiar world of chatbots and generative assistants. Dassault Systèmes’ introduction of AURA, LEO and MARIE demonstrates how intelligent digital companions are being embedded directly into engineering, manufacturing and scientific workflows. By bringing together agentic AI, virtual twins and trusted industrial knowledge, these technologies point towards AI becoming an active participant in industrial innovation rather than simply an information tool( p26).
Bill Tanner Editor
Europe appears increasingly prepared for this transition. Hyland’ s Digital Maturity Index 2026 gives the region an overall score of 69 out of 100, six points higher than in 2025. Investment in cloud platforms, AI, automation and cybersecurity is strengthening digital foundations across the continent.
Yet maturity does not automatically translate into business value. Fragmented infrastructure and poor information management remain significant barriers. The organisations most likely to benefit from emerging technologies will therefore be those that connect infrastructure, security, skills and data rather than treating Digital Transformation as a succession of individual projects( p37).
The same principle applies to scientific innovation. AI has become remarkably capable of predicting promising new materials, but computational discovery means little if those materials cannot be manufactured reliably. ATLANT 3D’ s NANOFABRICATOR PRO addresses this crucial gap between digital prediction and physical production, highlighting how the next challenge for AI is increasingly about translating intelligence into tangible outcomes( p20).
Taken together, these developments reveal an important change in the technology conversation. The focus is moving beyond what AI can generate towards what organisations can actually achieve with it.
Whether securing sovereign infrastructure, transforming industrial engineering or manufacturing new materials, the winners will be organisations able to combine openness, trusted data, resilient infrastructure and AI with real-world execution. That combination may ultimately define Europe’ s next chapter of Digital Transformation.
Just a sample, then, of what’ s inside. Enjoy the read.
Have an innovative month.
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