Europe's digital infrastructure is a security problem. I am developing the solution.
Kenneth B. Bjerke — Systems Architect and Technology Leader
25 years of experience from the grassroots to demanding B2B migrations. Now I am gathering everything in an ongoing research and development project to solve our time's most pressing IT challenge: Digital Sovereignty.
The Problem: A digital dependency crisis
70% of Europe's cloud infrastructure is currently controlled by three American companies. This is not just an economic problem, but a regulatory and geopolitical threat.
As shown when the International Criminal Court (ICC) had its systems shut down on orders from Washington in 2025, European sovereignty is a fiction as long as the infrastructure can be turned off from another continent.
Previous European attempts, such as Gaia-X, have failed. Not because the technology is too difficult, but because the initiatives were hijacked by bureaucracy and the very actors they sought to break free from.
Read my full in-depth analysis of Europe's technological challenges here →The Approach: Transcending the paradigm
The solution is not to build a marginally cheaper European copy of Amazon Web Services (AWS) with an EU flag on it. It is to transcend the established paradigm. My R&D project explores an architecture that combines three things no one has yet managed simultaneously:
- 1.Open standards right down to the root level (immune to extraterritorial legislation).
- 2.Commercial usability and frictionless migration tools (to ensure adoption in the B2B market).
- 3.A distribution model built into the architecture, independent of American ad platforms.
Europe does not have a technology problem. It has an architectural problem.
Open alternatives win technically – but lose in the market. Regulation presupposes control over infrastructure one does not control. We cannot be religious open-source fanatics. But we must be pragmatic patriots. These are the principles the project is built on.
Read the Diggs Doctrine →→Proof of Concept: Distribution solved — without ad spend
The biggest structural weakness of European technology alternatives is rarely the technology itself. It is the distribution. While transatlantic giants operate with enormous ad budgets, my answer is to make organic distribution capability a part of the infrastructure itself. Here is the proof that we can take technology to the market before the platform is fully built.
Akari Google Workspace
googleworkspace.akari.no – Achieved top organic rankings for high-intent B2B searches (e.g., 'Google Workspace partner') through strategic technical SEO.
Ventilato
ventilato.no – Dominating organic search for specialized industrial services. Ensured the company owns the search landscape for 'ventilation cleaning' across all target regions, driving high-quality leads without any ad spend.
//I don't give away all my trade secrets, but I gladly share the measurable results. This is organic growth in practice.
Who I'm looking for
This is not built alone. R&D projects of this magnitude require actors who can connect theory to operational implementation — and who have something to gain from Europe actually solving this.
I am looking for research and academic communities with an interest in digital infrastructure and European technological sovereignty. Norwegian and European technology companies that want to contribute to — and benefit from — an open, modular infrastructure. And representatives of the support apparatus who see the commercial and security potential in owning this layer.
Read more about how we can collaborate →From the grassroots to independent infrastructure
Building the infrastructure of the future requires practical experience, not just theory. This is how I built mine.
The technical foundation
Deep dive into Linux since Red Hat 5.2. Where others were content learning how to use programs, I learned to understand the underlying system. This gave me a profound understanding of system architecture from the ground up, and became the starting point for a lifelong dedication to open source and independent infrastructure.
→ This gave me an understanding of systems architecture that no course can provide: from the bottom up. It is impossible to research infrastructure you don't understand at the root level.
"Full-stack" founder life & organic distribution
Crawling Duck Johnsen: From the basement to a Scandinavia tour. This wasn't just a band, but an intense, around-the-clock startup. I handled absolutely everything: logistics, marketing, CD pressing, grant writing, booking, and the music production itself. Here I learned "growth hacking", extreme resource utilization, and the value of being connected 24/7.
→ Here I learned that distribution and adoption are just as important as the product itself. This is the lesson the European open-source movement has consistently ignored — and which is the core of my R&D project.
Change management & omnichannel strategy
Hi-Fi Klubben: From the warehouse floor to national strategy. I used the work capacity from my founder life to climb quickly. Built massive customer club events (including with the Øya Festival) and led the launch of "Tilbudstorget" – a pioneer project that required us to break down internal silos and integrate physical store inventory with the online store. When I was invited to interview as national sales manager, I had already discovered the potential in tech and social media, and chose to jump.
→ Breaking down silos and integrating physical and digital systems under one roof is exactly the challenge a European infrastructure platform must solve to be adopted.
SaaS scaling & "The Missing Link" in tech
Fanbooster / 24SevenSocial: Head of Customer Success. I opened the Oslo office and took the role as the very link between the customers, management, and developers in a company that scaled to become an official Facebook Partner. Sitting in the middle of this crossfire was an enormously educational journey. It taught me to translate complex technical challenges into commercial opportunities, and to ensure that the systems we built actually solved the customers' problems. This is the very key to technological adoption.
→ Being the link between developers and commercial departments is the fatal gap European open-source projects consistently miss. This gap is part of what I am researching to close.
The strategic bridge building
Head of System & IT at Akari AS and certified Google Partner. Daily strategic consulting for large and demanding B2B customers. I know the giants' infrastructure from the inside and understand exactly why they succeed commercially. This is absolutely essential to be able to build a fully-fledged alternative.
→ I know the giants' infrastructure from the inside. It is impossible to build a credible alternative without this insight — and impossible to convince the market without having lived in it.
The Future: Building the platform I've been preparing for for 25 years.
Independent European IT infrastructure. I am now gathering all this knowledge – from the Linux grassroots, organic distribution, change management, and commercial Customer Success – to solve our time's biggest IT challenge: "Vendor lock-in". The goal is to build and distribute an independent infrastructure that combines open source with an uncompromising user experience, so that technology once again works for people and businesses, not against them.
→ This is not a pipe dream. It is the culmination of 25 years of conscious preparation — and the project I am now seeking partners and funding to realize.
While the project is being built, I work with a selection of strategic B2B clients. Not as a full-time consultant — but because real-world implementations in demanding environments are the best way to stress-test the architecture. And because independent funding is a prerequisite for ensuring nothing stops.
Contact (Parental Leave)
I am on parental leave and have limited capacity for new projects and clients. However, the door is still open for R&D collaboration, partnerships, and strategic inquiries.
Feel free to send an email or fill out the form below — but expect a longer response time than usual.