French privacy protection search engine Qwant and German non-profit search engine Ecosia jointly develop European independent search indexes, aiming to reduce dependence on American technology giants (Google, Bing) and promote the development of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) technology. This move not only reduces operating costs, but also responds to the EU's encouragement of local technological innovation and enhances European data sovereignty. The two sides will jointly invest in the establishment of a new company "European Search Perspective" to share technology and resources. It is expected to be launched in France in early 2024, expand to Germany by the end of the year, and gradually support more European languages.
French privacy protection search engine Qwant and German non-profit search engine Ecosia announced a cooperation, and the two parties will jointly develop a European search index. The move aims to drive innovation in their respective search engines, especially in Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI), while reducing reliance on search indexes for tech giants such as Microsoft (Bing) and Google.
Currently, Ecosia and Qwant rely on Bing's search API, where Ecosia also uses Google's search results. As Microsoft significantly increases the cost of Bing search APIs, reducing reliance on these tech giants has become an urgent need. Although both parties will not completely stop using Bing or Google’s services, they hope to diversify the core technologies of their services through their indexes, thereby reducing operating costs and providing a technical foundation for product development of GenAI technology.
Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll said that with the advent of AI tools, the demand for search indexes has changed, and Bing and Google are increasingly cautious about sharing their indexes. Therefore, it becomes crucial to develop an autonomous search index. In addition, the regulatory environment in Europe also encourages local technological innovation, which provides an opportunity to establish an independent search index.
The new collaboration project, known as the "European Search Perspective", will be owned by Ecosia and Qwant each with a 50% stake. Although the parties did not disclose the specific investment amount, they said existing shareholders were supportive of the plan. This new index is expected to serve French users in the first quarter of next year and is planned to expand to users in Germany by the end of 2025, and will also support English and other European languages in the future.
Qwant's engineering team will be moved to the new joint venture, and Qwant's CEO Olivier Abecassis will also serve as the new company's CEO. He said that joint development will help expand the data pool, accelerate technology research and development, and can also attract more investment. Ecosia will provide data and financing support to develop the technology needed for search engines.
Compared with other privacy-first search engines like Brave, the search index of EUP (European Search Perspective) will provide search results based on the principle of "privacy first" and will not be personalized recommendations based on user data. Kroll stressed that having an autonomous search infrastructure is particularly important for maintaining data sovereignty in Europe.
Key points:
Ecosia collaborates with Qwant to develop autonomous search indexes to reduce reliance on tech giants.
The new index is expected to start serving French users in early 2024 and will be expanded to Germany and other languages later.
The new search engine will adhere to the principle of "privacy first" and will not conduct personalized searches for user data.
The cooperation between Qwant and Ecosia marks an important step in Europe's digital sovereignty. The future development of the "European search perspective" is worth looking forward to, and its success or failure will have a profound impact on the European Internet landscape. This is not only a technological innovation, but also a symbol of European science and technology independence.