A milestone for Europe’s digital sovereignty – the two search engine providers Ecosia (Germany) and Qwant (France) have developed the first European search index and have begun answering the first search queries.

By Jan Nintemann and Jochen Siegle; Photo: Screenshot Ecosia

The project is named “Staan” and could be the beginning of the end of dependence on Google, Bing, and other US giants.

A search index is the core of a search engine – a gigantic database where information from the web is collected, sorted, and made available for queries.

Why Staan is so Important

Until now, practically all alternatives, whether Ecosia, DuckDuckGo, or Qwant, relied on the indexes of Google or Bing (Microsoft). This meant that the keys to information retrieval on the internet were almost entirely in US hands.

The market figures speak for themselves: Google dominates desktop web search with an 80% market share, and even over 90% on mobile. Bing follows with a large gap (12% desktop, 2% mobile). All other providers are around the 1% mark. With Staan, a serious European challenger is probably emerging for the first time.

European Cooperation Instead of US Dependence

Behind Staan is the joint venture “European Search Perspective” (EUSP) by Ecosia and Qwant. Qwant already sources 50% of its search results from the new index. Ecosia uses Staan for 33% of its queries.

This means that a significant portion of search results no longer flow through Microsoft or Google – a first step towards true digital independence.

David vs. Goliath – with a Data Protection Advantage

Ecosia knows the downsides of dependence firsthand: when Microsoft significantly raised prices for access to the Bing index, the Windows corporation had the market power to simply dictate these terms.

Staan addresses exactly this – and could ensure more data protection, digital autonomy, and less ad clutter.

A New Beginning for Europe’s Digital Infrastructure

With Staan, not only is a technical pilot project being launched, but a political signal is being sent: Europe can build its own powerful infrastructures – independent of the pricing and data policies of non-European tech giants. Thus, Staan is a beacon of hope for a self-determined, digital Europe.

With TransformIT Europe, we are building exactly the platform that makes such innovations visible: as a fair, network, and stage for all who are working on a European, sustainable, and fair digital infrastructure.

We warmly invite Qwant and Ecosia to present their vision and progress at our next TransformIT Europe 2026 – and to build the future of digital sovereignty together with us.

See ya in Brussels @ TransformIT Europe

Related Links

• https://staan.ai
• https://techcrunch.com/2025/08/06/qwant-and-ecosia-debut-staan-a-european-search-index-that-aims-to-take-on-big-tech/
• https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/qwant-and-ecosia-debut-staan-a-european-search-index-that-aims-to-take-on-big-tech/ar-AA1K0Vt6
• https://www.bundeswirtschaftsministerium.de/Redaktion/DE/Downloads/Monatsbericht/Monatsbericht-Themen/2020-09-im-fokus-gaia-x-fuer-ein-digital-souveraenes-europa.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=1