While there is a strong focus on securing Denmark's critical infrastructure against hostile powers, everything from authorities to public institutions and private companies have placed a large part of their digital infrastructure in the hands of tech giants like Google, Facebook, Amazon and Microsoft. This raises questions about data security and how data is harvested, which can be critical when dealing with sensitive data of national importance.
So, there is a need for a secure place to store and process data without exploiting it for commercial purposes, and now DTU's supercomputer, Computerome, is opening up for broader use.
Computerome is one of Denmark's most advanced supercomputers, and with its 50 petabytes of storage capacity, it has room to house all of Denmark's public data. Until now, Computerome has been targeted at university environments and health research with a lot of sensitive personal data, but now everything from public institutions to private companies can use the supercomputer's powerful computing power for AI models and a wide range of other purposes.
"It's crucial that we can promote innovation without compromising data security, which is why we provide infrastructure like Computerome. It fits into our mission to benefit society and it also supports our research environments and contributes to the security and development of society," says University Director Claus Nielsen.
Giving up our independence
The Danish government's expert group on tech giants published a report in December in which they concluded that 'the decoupling of parts of the digital infrastructures from democratic control, insight and common rules of the game is a fundamental problem.'
This can lead to a range of economic, democratic, and security challenges.
When we hand over data to the tech giants, we give up some of our independence, says Peter Løngreen, CEO of Computerome.
"The big tech companies use user data to optimize their business. Their business model is usually based on harvesting and utilizing your data without transparency or consent. In addition, it's difficult to ensure compliance with GDPR rules to safely store personal data with these companies," he says.
