When Mark Carney outlined the priorities of his Major Projects Office (MPO), one vital word stood out: sovereignty.
As the Calgary-headquartered MPO sets about key innovation projects aimed at bolstering our nation’s future economic resilience – from nuclear reactors to high-speed rail – the PM has been keen to highlight the significance of establishing sovereign cloud capabilities as part of the nation’s digital backbone.
This would, he said “build compute capacity and data centres that we need to underpin Canada’s competitiveness, to protect our security, and to boost our independence and sovereignty… This will give Canada independent control over advanced computing power while reinforcing our leadership in AI and quantum.”
Sovereign innovation
The intrinsic link between data sovereignty and Canada’s ability to innovate is the most important technology consideration facing us today.
At a time of growing cyber threat and geopolitical tension, our organizations need secure infrastructure that can support cutting-edge innovation, while ensuring complete data integrity and operational resilience.
For many, the obvious strategy is to stick with traditional on-premises IT infrastructure – keeping all data and workloads safely within the walls of the organization.
However, in the era of rapidly advancing AI, only cloud services can provide the scalable, cost-efficient future-ready features and capabilities necessary for cutting-edge innovation. That’s why sovereign cloud is a priority for the MPO – and should be for all our innovative organizations.
So, what does a future-ready sovereign cloud look like? What qualities and capabilities should it have?
At SAP, we have over 20 years of experience in designing and operating sovereign clouds at scale. Here are three key considerations we highlight to executives when discussing their sovereign cloud strategies:
1) Ensure data stays within national borders
It’s vital that Canadian organizations are able to accelerate cloud-enabled innovation, while keeping within national borders, governed by national laws.
For example, SAP Sovereign Cloud ensures that everything – from infrastructure to legal jurisdiction – remains under our customer organization’s control. We offer full data residency and teams with security credentials, local legal protection, and in-country infrastructure operated by trusted national partners.
For leaders considering the way forward, we recommend always asking “does the solution we’re considering enable high-impact innovation while maintaining full visibility, auditability and in-region data control?”
2) Demand compliance with national regulations
The nation’s innovative organizations – particularly those in the public sector responsible for elements of our critical national infrastructure – need cloud platforms that align with Canada’s rules and values.
The First Nations Information Governance Centre, for example, has emphasized the principles of Ownership, Control, Access, and Possession (OCAP) to serve as a foundation for Indigenous data sovereignty in Canada – guiding research and data collection involving First Nations.
At SAP, we share the commitment to aligning with local laws, frameworks and principles. We have, for instance, developed our Sovereign Cloud to enable compliance with the Canadian Centre for Cyber Security (CCCS) Medium Cloud Security Profile and the additional Protected B High Value Asset (PBHVA) overlay, along with personal data privacy laws including PIPEDA, GDPR and Quebec Law 25.
Close scrutiny of the compliance alignment of sovereign cloud solutions is vital if organizations are to pursue cloud-driven innovation for Canada with confidence.
3. Adopt sovereign cloud fit for the AI future
To meet Mark Carney’s goal of “reinforcing our leadership in AI”, Canada needs infrastructure that safeguards data sovereignty and enables unbounded future innovation.
This means being able to train, deploy and govern the very latest AI models securely, at speed, without any foreign exposure.
It also means leveraging sovereign cloud solutions into which functional innovations are continuously flowing, so organizations always have access to the latest capabilities. In this context, being locked into a vendor solution that doesn’t evolve alongside AI will prove a considerable risk.
At SAP, our innovations are continuously applied to our Sovereign Cloud, and our dedicated local teams ensure the service adapts to ever-changing security and compliance requirements. We have committed over €20 billion in additional investments by 2035 to further expand solution and regional coverage.
In our view, leaders should always insist on seeing a roadmap for the incorporation of future AI technologies into any sovereign cloud solutions they are considering.
Economic uplift
In the lead up to the federal election of early 2025, the Council of Canadian Innovators published a letter, signed by 150 technology executives. It urged parties to define their plans “to build a more sovereign, more resilient, and more prosperous Canada” in response to what it called the “greatest economic crisis our country has faced since the Second World War.”
Developing future-fit sovereign cloud capabilities, to underpin our most innovative public and private organizations, is absolutely pivotal to addressing today’s economic challenges – opening up an exciting future of sovereign innovation in which Canada will lead on the world stage.
