The Data & AI Glossary for Strategic Sectors (2025)
The data and AI transformation of strategic sectors can only happen within a framework of trust. Here are the key terms for understanding the challenges of digital sovereignty, data, and AI in Europe.
AI Act
European regulation governing the use of AI, classifying systems by risk level.
👉 Sovereign AIs must comply with its requirements.
Anonymization/Pseudonymization
Techniques aimed at protecting personal data. Anonymization makes re-identification impossible, while pseudonymization replaces certain attributes with identifiers.
Cloud Act
U.S. law allowing authorities to access data hosted by U.S. companies, even if stored outside the country.
👉 Main risk of dependence outside the EU.
Trusted cloud
Cloud that complies with strict security (SecNumCloud, ISO 27001), governance, and sovereignty criteria.
French copilot
Generative AI-based digital assistant, designed, trained, and hosted in a sovereign environment in France or Europe.
Unlike proprietary copilots offered by American hyperscalers, a French copilot ensures data confidentiality, non-submission to extraterritorial laws (Cloud Act, FISA), and compliance with European regulations (GDPR, AI Act).
👉 Tailored to the needs of public and private organizations handling sensitive data (healthcare, defense, research), it allows users to leverage the capabilities of AI co-pilots while ensuring the security and sovereignty of critical environments.
Data Governance Act (DGA)
European framework for organizing data sharing in a trusted environment.
Data Act
European regulation on the sharing and interoperability of industrial data.
Data Fabric
Architecture that unifies security, governance, and interoperability across a multi-cloud or hybrid environment.
Data Lakehouse
Architecture combining the flexibility of data lakes and the performance of data warehouses.
👉 Enables large-scale AI use cases without proprietary dependencies.
Data Lineage
Complete traceability of a dataset, from its source to its use.
👉 Ensures compliance and auditability.
Data Mesh
A decentralized approach where each business domain is responsible for its own data products.
Data Residency
Requirement for data to be physically located in a specific jurisdiction.
👉 Often required by the GDPR or health laws.
Delta Lake / Iceberg / Parquet
Open storage formats used to make data lakes more reliable and standardized.
Gaia-X
European initiative launched in 2020 to create an ecosystem of interoperable, secure, and sovereign cloud data and services.
GAIA-X is not a cloud in itself, but a framework of standards and labels designed to ensure that cloud infrastructures and services comply with principles of transparency, portability, and European compliance (GDPR, security, interoperability).
👉 For strategic sectors, GAIA-X represents a credible alternative to the monopoly of American hyperscalers, promoting a trusted cloud based on European cooperation.
HDS (Health Data Hosting)
French certification guaranteeing the security and confidentiality of medical data.
SecNumCloud Generative AI
Deployment and operation of generative AI models (LLMs, diffusion models, copilots) in a cloud infrastructure certified SecNumCloud by ANSSI. This approach ensures that the data used for training, adapting, or inferring models is protected within a sovereign and highly secure framework.
👉 It meets the sovereignty and compliance requirements of strategic sectors (healthcare, defense, public services), offering the power of generative AI without exposure to extraterritorial risks (Cloud Act, FISA).
On-premise generative AI
Use of Generative AI (LLM, RAG, agents, etc.) on internal infrastructure or a sovereign private cloud.
👉 Confidentiality guarantee for sensitive environments.
Sovereign generative AI
Use of Generative AI (LLM, RAG, agents, etc.) in a framework that is immune to extraterritorial laws, enabling data protection.
👉 Complies with GDPR and AI Act requirements.
Sovereign MLOps
Set of practices for deploying, monitoring, and securing AI models in a certified environment.
Master Data Management (MDM)
Centralized management of reference data (customers, products, etc.).
Move-to-cloud SecNumCloud Data
Data migration to a SecNumCloud-certified infrastructure.
👉 Key step in modernizing without compromising security.
NIS2
European directive strengthening cybersecurity obligations for operators of essential services.
Data orchestration
Pipeline automation (ETL/ELT) using tools such as Airflow or Dagster.
On-Premises Data Platform
Data management and operating environment deployed directly on an organization's internal infrastructure (local servers, private data center). It provides total control over data security, governance, and location, without dependence on an external public cloud.👉 Preferred solution for strategic sectors (defense, healthcare, research, etc.) requiring total control over their sensitive data.
All-in-one data platform
An integrated approach that avoids the complexity and fragmentation of the modern data stack.
Sovereign Data Platform
Comprehensive environment (ingestion, storage, governance, analytics, AI) operated within a sovereign framework.
👉 Strategic alternative to American platforms.
On-premise agentic platform
Software environment for designing, deploying, and orchestrating intelligent agents (autonomous generative AI, multi-agent workflows) directly on an organization's internal infrastructure, without the need for a public cloud.
These platforms combine models (LLMs, RAG engines, planning tools) with local orchestration to automate complex tasks: document analysis, report generation, business process management.
👉 In the on-premise version, they guarantee data confidentiality, complete control over models, and compliance with regulatory requirements (GDPR, SecNumCloud, AI Act). This is a key option for strategic sectors (defense, healthcare, energy, public services) that want to leverage agentic AI without external dependencies.
Sovereign agent platform
Platform for the design, industrialization, and management of agents based on generative AI technologies, providing data protection guarantees and expertise within a sovereign framework (European technologies, LLM, and hosting).
Sovereign RAG
Technique combining search engine + LLM hosted in a sovereign framework.
GDPR
European regulation governing the collection and processing of personal data of EU citizens.
👉 Essential standard for any data project.
Responsible AI
Practices aimed at making AI ethical, reliable, and compliant with regulations.
SecNumCloud
Certification standard issued by ANSSI, setting security and governance requirements for cloud providers. In particular, it requires data to be located in Europe and protected against extraterritorial laws.
Digital sovereignty
The ability of a state or organization to maintain control over its data, infrastructure, and technologies.
👉 Key concept for strategic sectors facing dependence on GAFAM.




