On 13 and 14 October 2026, service specialists, managers and directors of NRENs from across Europe and beyond gathered in Vienna, Austria, for the autumn meeting of the Special Interest Group on Management of Service Portfolios (SIG-MSP), hosted by ACOnet in the glorious surroundings of the University of Vienna. The meeting also presented the perfect occasion to celebrate the 40-year contribution to the GÉANT community of Christian Panigl of ACOnet.
The programme developed around the two central topics of Digital Sovereignty and Strategy, with a particular focus on demonstrating these broad concepts “in action” and providing examples of best practice as well as what to avoid.
Fitting perfectly into these themes, Harald Michl (ACOnet) opened the meeting with a welcome on behalf of the hosting organisation and with an overview of the ACOnet service portfolio, organisation and strategy.
We next turned to the presentation “The Story so Far” by Leonie Schäfer (DFN), who updated the group on recent sessions and discussions around Digital Sovereignty from the GÉANT Symposium and then gauged the community’s current position on the topic through an interactive survey. The results were clear: NRENs are already weighing digital sovereignty in their service portfolio decisions. Topping the list of concerns are avoiding vendor lock-in, data control and jurisdiction. However, few NRENs yet assess technological dependencies systematically when introducing new services or reviewing existing ones. Participants also reported a need to be better prepared to replace or migrate strategically important services. Asked what would help most, the group pointed to guidance and best practices first, followed by sharing experience between NREN (in groups such as SIG-MSP), shared assessment criteria and common procurement approaches.
Following the survey, three NRENs showed what digital sovereignty looks like in practice:
- Harri Kuusisto (CSC/FUNET) offered perspectives from ongoing work in Finland on sovereign service alternatives that NRENs can fall back on.
- Radovan Igliar (CESNET) covered the topic of institutional resilience against foreign interference. A new Czech law, in force from January 2027, requires research institutions to assess the risks of their partnerships, and CESNET is helping them meet the requirement with a partner-screening service already piloted with 13 universities.
- Michel Wets (SURF) gave much food for thought on how SURF approaches digital sovereignty, asking the group to consider aspects we might easily forget but must not overlook.
A final example came from the GÉANT procurement team, who introduced the new “GÉANT Principles and guidelines for European Sovereignty”.
A fantastic evening ensued, giving participants the opportunity to discuss the topic further and in a more informal setting.
Day two centred on the topic of strategy, again with a focus on implementation in practice. Christoph Wild (ACOnet Association) opened with a detailed look at how research and education networking is organised in Austria today. He then set out options for how ACOnet could develop in the future so that it can continue meeting the needs of the Austrian research and education community in the changing digital landscape.
Three organisations then shared how they turn strategy into action:
- Karen Thornton (Asiera) showed how Asiera’s 2026–2030 strategy is built into the annual company plan and individual objectives, and is tracked through regular reporting to leadership, the board and government.
- Radovan Igliar (CESNET) presented CESNET’s experience of moving from strategy to delivery.
- Dawn Ng (GÉANT) gave a realistic view of the strategy process, arguing that approving a strategy is only the beginning. Since then, GÉANT has been translating its strategy into thematic roadmaps developed with the community and bringing its planning together into one integrated cycle.
Many best practices were shared in the round table discussion that followed. This culminated in a call to action from Dawn and Thijs van der Horst (SURF), who asked whether the community would be interested in contributing to a new community of practice group on all aspects related to strategy. Participants responded with clear and enthusiastic interest, so further details and updates will be shared through GÉANT channels in due course.
As the meeting closed, it was evident to all participants that both topics of strategy and digital sovereignty will remain priorities for the SIG-MSP group for some time to come. A huge thank you to everyone who joined, in Vienna and online, across the two half day sessions, and a special thank you to ACOnet for being such a welcoming host.
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