• by Laurie Sullivan , Staff Writer @lauriesullivan, November 13, 2024

Two search engines known in Europe for their individuality announced Tuesday they will build an infrastructure in Europe to give internet users a search alternative.

German company Ecosia, which is known for planting trees to offset carbon emissions, and French company Qwant, which launched in February 2013, have created Paris-based European Search Perspectives (EUSP). The two companies will share ownership.

EUSP -- a privacy-first search engine scheduled to become operational during the first quarter of 2025 -- will be available in German and French. Artificial intelligence (AI) will support the search engine.

Separately, the two companies have relied on Microsoft Bing for search results. Ecosia also relied on Google.

Qwant CEO Olivier Abecassis will head the new venture, EUSP, with a goal to build “digital sovereignty within Europe and ensure the continent has a strong, independent alternative to existing search technologies.”

EUSP will have the ability to raise capital from investors, and plans to syndicate its index to other search engines and technology companies, including those that might want to use the data to train AI systems.

The hope is that it will serve as a key resource for the European data industry by providing a transparent and secure data pool for AI technologies.

“The amount of climate impact Ecosia can bring about will always be dependent on how good our search engine is, so developing innovative technology is essential for the planet,” said Christian Kroll, CEO at Ecosia. “This huge endeavor will also require the support of regulators and governments.”

Ecosia and Qwant will continue existing back-end technology partnerships to ensure the best possible results and products for their respective users.

Quant’s engineering team and their developments will be transferred to EUSP in the beginning of 2025, once approvals from stakeholders have been received. This will expand to include a significant portion of traffic in Germany by the end of next year.

The two companies have a difficult road ahead. Ecosia holds about 1% search market share in France and Germany, and claims about 20 million users globally, while Qwant reports about 6 million users.