OSPE Forum 2026

Building sovereign public infrastructure always needs to address the full tech stack. Focusing solely on the „engine room“ will not suffice, neither does only replacing the office suite.

Initiatives like EuroStack inspired concrete action on the EU member state level to describe, plan and build holistic stacks that implement specific sovereignty criteria.

In my talk, I will discuss these developments, using the example of the Deutschland-Stack (Germany’s public sector tech stack program) to showcase the potential as well as the pitfalls.

The 27 May release of the European Commission’s Digital Sovereignty Package—centered on the Cloud and AI Infrastructure Development Act (CAIDA) and a renewed Open Source Ecosystem Strategy—represents an important shift toward a self-determined digital future. However, the transition from political ambition to a resilient digital landscape depends on whether the legislative text provides the necessary mechanisms to leverage open source as a strategic public good at scale. This session will provide space for open source ecosystem representatives coming from a commercial background to share their perspectives on this landmark development.

Like other markets around the world, European AI integration and digital transformation faces a "skills crisis" rather than a jobs crisis. While Europe reports a net hiring increase in technology for 2026, security and privacy concerns have surged to become the top barrier to technology adoption. Organizations struggle with a full-stack readiness problem, evidenced by a capability gap in AI security and low implementation of the foundational "PARK stack". This session discusses new data that reveals the gaps that need to be closed, and the shift toward internal development and training, where technical upskilling and cross skilling now rivals compensation (91%) for talent retention. We will discuss how European policy and ecosystems can support continuous learning and certifications to ensure secure AI scaling.

Open source software is routinely analysed as a market phenomenon: a sector, an industry, a competitive arena. That framing is wrong. Upstream open technology collaboration is a global commons that spans all sectors and industries: voluntary participation, shared governance, results available to all under open licences. It produces no products, fixes no prices, and forecloses no markets.

Where open source does intersect with competition, the dynamics run in one direction. Open licensing removes barriers to adoption. Open governance, the less-discussed but more important dimension, prevents capture by any single actor. And when governance fails, the fork is the corrective: faster, cheaper, and more precise than regulatory intervention.
The distinction between upstream collaboration and downstream commercial activity is not a technical detail. EU procurement rules, the Cyber Resilience Act, the AI Act, and future MFF funding instruments all depend on getting it right.

Open source has never been European, American, or any other geographic construct—it is inherently global. Framing “European open source” as a distinct category is not only misleading, but strategically limiting. This talk challenges that narrative and argues for a shift in mindset: from regional identity to global leadership.

Crucially, the path to digital sovereignty does not lie in creating a siloed “European open source ecosystem.” Such an approach lacks the scale and network effects required for sustainability. Instead, sovereignty is achieved through deep participation in global communities—where influence is earned through contribution, leadership, and collaboration.

The core message is simple: European open source is global open source.

Europe's telecom operators sit at the intersection of two of the EU's most pressing digital priorities: building resilient, sovereign infrastructure and deepening engagement with the open source ecosystem. Yet a coherent vision for how the telco industry, open source community, and public institutions should work together, grounded in contemporary challenges and needs, has historically remained elusive.

This session will present early findings from a forthcoming OFE vision paper exploring what structures, capabilities, and policy frameworks are needed to bring these actors into closer alignment. The paper draws heavily on secondary sources and expert interviews across the European telecoms and open source communities.

The presentation will offer a preview of the policy recommendations that will form the core of the full report, due for publication in late June 2026. It will share initial insights on how operators are currently engaging with open source, examining where the most significant capacity and organisational gaps lie, elaborating what a European-led cooperative model might look like, and considering potential future pathways for policy engagement.

The mission of IPCEI-CIS is clear: build Europe’s sovereign multi-provider cloud-edge continuum. Over 120 industry and research partners across 12 member states are actively involved. Each with their unique commercial interest and expertise, all expected to work together towards a pan-European interoperable goal. But funding instruments (like IPCEI, Horizon, and others) alone are not enough; they expose a “digital sovereignty paradox”. Digital sovereignty for Europe cannot be produced by a single vendor. It can only be obtained with an ecosystem of vendors, no winner-takes-it-all. And companies collaborating jointly in software require a unique model of ownership.

We realized that a neutral, open source, digital commons, and governance infrastructure to collaborate in code and to create a sovereign commodity base was missing.

This session tells the story of why SAP championed the move toward open source and founded NeoNephos under LF Europe. We will discuss the strategic necessity of introducing a neutral governance layer into digital sovereignty missions. We will explore how learnings from our Open Source Program Office (OSPO) guided us with proper instruments.