About us
cloud ahead is a European think tank and strategic advisory firm for digital sovereignty. We combine hands on experience with empirical research to understand what works, what it costs and where the trade-offs are. Our insights help policymakers and managers make better strategic and technological decisions that account for both economic and geopolitical realities.
Our mission
Making digital sovereignty economically and technologically viable for Europe.
Our belief
The global technology stack is extraordinarily efficient. Software makes it possible for everyone to reuse digital products built with billions in investment at a marginal cost close to zero. Its convenience, scale and performance have created the deeply interconnected digital ecosystem that governments, businesses and citizens now use to achieve their goals.
Yet the same interconnectedness creates risks that limit our digital sovereignty: cyber security, operational disruption, regulatory exposure, vendor lock-in, kill switches and loss of expertise.
As replicating the technology and investment behind this ecosystem does not appear economically viable, we look for solutions that strengthen European digital sovereignty while recognising the economic constraints faced by governments, SMEs, enterprises and citizens.
Our core team and contributors
Gregor
Schumacher
Founder & MD (LinkedIn)
Gregor is VP of Tech Innovation at Riverty and works at the intersection of cloud technology, business strategy and digital sovereignty. Drawing on extensive experience in technology transformation, he focuses on turning technological dependencies and economic constraints into viable strategic choices.
Daniela
Seegel
Contributor (LinkedIn)
Daniela is a legal counsel specialising in the legal and regulatory dimensions of digital transformation. She contributes a legal perspective on digital sovereignty, regulatory exposure and the practical implications of legal dependencies.
Marcel
Gocke
Contributor (LinkedIn)
Marcel is a Senior Solution and Enterprise Architect at Riverty. He has worked with cloud technology since its early days in the United States and previously contributed to the core development of the hybris commerce platform. He brings deep technical experience in software architecture, enterprise systems and cloud transformation to our work.
David
Sterz
Contributor (LinkedIn)
David is an independent IT consultant with nearly two decades of experience in cloud computing. Specialising in distributed cloud architectures, Kubernetes and open-source infrastructure, he contributes a technical perspective on building a decentralised and sovereign European cloud ecosystem.
Jockel
Merholz
Founder & MD (LinkedIn)
Jockel is an Associate Partner at Faktor 3 Consulting and specialises in strategic transformation, organisational development and digital sovereignty. Drawing on his experience in cloud strategy and complex transformation programmes, he focuses on turning technological change into viable organisational action.
Andreas
Tamm
In Memoriam
Andreas was a long-standing advisor to cloud ahead and an experienced cloud and enterprise architect. His expertise, judgement and generous contributions had a lasting impact on our work. We keep him here in in grateful memory of our collaboration.
Maximilian
Hille
Contributor (LinkedIn)
Maximilian is Senior Technology Officer and Head of IT at MTU Aero Engines. With more than 15 years of experience in cloud computing, technology research and digital advisory, he contributes an enterprise perspective on balancing technological capability, economic value and digital sovereignty.
Prof. Dr.
Roland Frank
Founder (LinkedIn)
Roland is a scientist and expert in digital transformation, artificial intelligence. Drawing on more than 15 years of experience at the intersection of technology, media and management, he brings an academic and economic perspective to the analysis of digital sovereignty.
Jan
Tietjen
Contributor (LinkedIn)
Jan is Managing Director of Paranoid Security DE and a senior information security expert. Drawing on extensive experience in security architecture, compliance and security operations, he contributes a practical risk perspective on digital sovereignty and technological dependencies.
Jan
Ahrend
Contributor (LinkedIn)
Jan is an independent agile transformation expert with more than 20 years of hands-on experience in organisational change, leadership and complex transformation programmes. He is the author of several books on agile leadership, Scrum and project management and contributes an organisational development perspective.
Interested? We look forward to hearing from you!
Our latest articles in your inbox.
Don’t miss out on any news about the sovereign cloud.
You can find information on the use of the delivery service provider Brevo, the logging of logins and your right of withdrawal in our privacy policy.
Contents
Contact
Social
