Faculty Lead
Alessandro Baroncelli
Director, AI Business Transformation Hub; Director, International Center for Research in International Management (ICRIM); Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore.
About this AI Insight
Artificial Intelligence is rapidly evolving from a digital technology into a strategic cognitive infrastructure. As frontier AI models become increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few global providers, access to advanced AI capabilities is emerging as a new dimension of geopolitical power.
This Faculty Insight examines how digital sovereignty is shifting from the ownership of technologies toward the governance of access to AI. It argues that the competitiveness of firms, the effectiveness of public institutions, and the productivity of entire countries will increasingly depend on their ability to secure stable, resilient and governable access to frontier AI systems.
The paper introduces the concepts of access sovereignty, national productivity sovereignty, and computational friendshoring, exploring how geopolitical dynamics may reshape the global distribution of AI capabilities over the coming years. It concludes by outlining three medium-term scenarios for the emerging international computational order and discusses the strategic implications for Europe, governments and business leaders.
About the Author
Alessandro Baroncelli is Director of the AI Business Transformation Hub, a Lab of the International Center for Research in International Management (ICRIM) at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, digital transformation, international strategy, and the geopolitical implications of emerging technologies.
Through his academic and executive activities, he supports business leaders and public institutions in understanding how AI is reshaping competitiveness, organizational capabilities, and the strategic relationship between technology, governance and economic development.
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Download the complete Faculty Insight to explore why access to Artificial Intelligence is becoming a strategic dimension of national competitiveness, and how governments, firms and international alliances must rethink digital sovereignty in an era where geopolitical power increasingly depends on the governance of cognitive infrastructures.
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