Digital Readiness as a Market Access Condition: Sovereign Cloud, Zero-Trust and Corporate Eligibility in Europe’s Defence Economy
Over the past few years, the regulatory and operational environment for European companies operating in defence, critical infrastructure and dual-use sectors has undergone a structural transformation. Cybersecurity, cloud governance and data control are no longer treated as technical or compliance matters delegated to IT functions. They increasingly determine access to markets, contracts and financing. European regulation and NATO doctrine are converging toward a shared baseline of digital readiness. The Cyber Resilience Act, sovereign cloud requirements and zero-trust architectures now form an implicit eligibility framework for participation in high-value public and defence-linked programmes. This framework operates upstream of procurement, shaping who can bid, finance projects or integrate into strategic supply chains. For companies, the implications are primarily corporate rather than technical. Architecture choices affect governance, cost structures, investment planning and long-term positioning. Decisions taken at CIO or CTO level increasingly have balance-sheet and strategic consequences. This report examines that shift in concrete terms. It reconstructs how mandatory digital readiness is emerging, how it is enforced through regulation and funding instruments, and how it affects different categories of firms. The analysis is written to support informed corporate decision-making in an environment where digital architecture has become a structural condition of competitiveness.