European Search Index: Qwant and Ecosia Unleash a Bold Challenge to Big Tech

Key Points

1. Staan is a joint venture between Qwant (France) and Ecosia (Germany), aiming to offer a privacy-focused and economical search alternative.

2. The European Search Perspective (EUSP) targets powering 50% of French and 33% of German search queries, challenging Big Tech dominance.

3. Staan emphasizes privacy with GDPR compliance and European data hosting, contrasting with traditional engines' user tracking.

4. The index offers cost advantages for AI integration, reportedly at 1/10th the cost of competitors like Google and Bing.

5. Staan's vision includes enhancing AI search technology, targeting AI chatbots and applications, to provide a European-controlled knowledge grounding source.