EUROPEAN SEARCH PERSPECTIVE It is developing a European web index of searches, a Full directory of websites and digital content housed in Europe. This index will be an alternative results supplier for a diverse set of small search engines, startups and for the European data and artificial intelligence industry.
Ecosia, a German search engine that is positioned as an alternative to the giants of the sector, Google and Bing, has been associated with QWANT (another European engine based in France) to develop that index that will lay the foundations for future technologies, including the infrastructure of AI, and that seeks to support digital sovereignty in Europe, provide a transparent and safe data set for emerging technologies of AI and promote more fair, competitive and democratic technology.
From Ecosia they explain that a search index is a database used by search engines to recover information and present it in the most relevant order; In the same way that libraries label and classify books.
Currently, the company uses a combination of Google and Bing libraries to respond to searches. From 2025, our new index will be incorporated into the database to offer results in both French and German. “We will start with a small base and in the countries of origin of QWant and Ecosia, respectively”They explain, although the intention is to expand it.
Beyond there and through the ‘European Search Perspective’the intention is to help build digital sovereignty in Europe and provide a Transparent and safe data set for emerging technologies of AI. The search index will be used by both Ecosia and QWant and will prioritize the privacy section. Unlike proprietary solutions, this index will be available to third parties.
The importance of European Searches Index
Approximately the 99% of search consultations in Europe They are answered by only two companies, both based in the USA. The rest is provided by a Russian state company. All other relevant search engines are based on the data mentioned above.
This shows that The technological dependence of the European digital economy is huge. The new AI technologies require huge amounts of data, which often include a broad web index. Today, they need to access them through their competitors. A big problem taking into account the current geopolitical panorama and therefore the technological one. In the current digital situation, “Europe has inadequate data security, insufficient and environmentally unsustainable privacy protection”they say.
