Last week, the OSI submitted its feedback to the Open Digital Ecosystems strategy, which comes at a time when both Open Source communities and the European Union face unprecedented challenges. We highlighted the benefits of Open Source for Europe, and how to leverage them in a way that strengthens Open Source communities.
The Open Digital Ecosystems Strategy is the follow up to the European Commission’s Open Source Strategy which expired in 2023, and comes at a time when the European Union (EU) and its member states are seeking greater digital sovereignty, and competitiveness.
In our feedback, we highlight how we see Open Source as a way to achieve that goal, and the pitfalls that must be avoided.
Europe is uniquely positioned to benefit from Open Source: figures from GitHub show EU developers being the largest group of contributors to Open Source projects globally. In short, Europe has a hidden silicon valley in addition to its already flourishing Commercial Open Source sector. There is lots the EU can do to fully leverage the benefits of Open Source.
Our feedback focuses on what can be done, both at a non-legislative level, and opportunistically at a legislative level (where there is already a law in the works).
Funding for Open Source software
Our top priority was to ensure the continued funding of Open Source software by the EU. The EU’s Next Generation Internet programme (which is also about to expire) has funded a plethora of Open Source projects including Mastodon, KDE, Gnome, Nextcloud; OnlyOffice, Collabora Online, Libreoffice, CryptPad, Kdenlive, PixelFed, Lemmy, Pretalx, Wireguard, many more. The direct benefits of that funding have been enormous for the FOSS ecosystem, and we wanted to ensure they continue.
To achieve this, we proposed the creation of an EU Sovereign Tech Fund, covering a wide range of different types of Open Source projects, including projects critical to European users, businesses and Open Source communities, promising early-stage Open Source innovations, and Open Source projects of strategic value to the EU.
In addition, given the increased adoption of Open Source software by public administrations in the EU, we proposed a subfund to support the development of specific features requested by European Public administrations in Open Source software solutions, improving those solutions to spark further adoption.
Finally, we called on the Commission to develop Open Source Attestations under the Cyber Resilience Act: these attestations are designed to be a way for Open Source foundations to raise money for the development of their projects while reducing the compliance burden for companies who use their projects. If implemented correctly, we see these as a sustainable way to fund Open Source projects, including Open Source components. We will keep working with the Commission on achieving that outcome.
These proposals also significantly benefit the EU, generating economic growth, accelerating the development of alternatives to dominant ICT solutions, and strengthening the EU’s cyber resilience.
Supporting Open Source companies
The EU also currently has a keen interest in supporting Open Source companies and developing businesses around Open Source. We believe this can be a path to sustainability for Open Source projects, and that many projects are already at a level of maturity and quality that allow them to outcompete proprietary incumbents. For that reason, we also focused part of our feedback on supporting Open Source companies at all stages of development.
We called on the EU to support Open Source developers who want to build a business around their projects. This could be via grants, but also through education, training and tailored support. We also called on the EU to ensure member states’ tax deductions for R&D can also apply to Open Source software.
Finally, and most importantly, we call on the EU to reform its procurement rules to give Open Source companies a fair chance at winning public tenders. The EU and its member states spend €125bn on procurement of ICT solutions every year, but very little of that goes to Open Source due to barriers in the procurement process.
We aren’t asking for special treatment: we believe that Open Source can already compete on its existing merits of quality, sovereignty, interoperability and flexibility. What we are asking is that the benefits of Open Source, such as quality, sovereignty, interoperability and flexibility be taken into account in the procurement process.
This won’t just result in better, more competitive procurement, it will also help Open Source companies to scale up in Europe, combatting dependence and creating new jobs.
Strengthening knowledge of Open Source
Finally, one gap we have identified in the EU is in knowledge. This includes both knowledge of Open Source in the policymaking process and in the deployment of ICT solutions. Such gaps run the risk of delaying the roll-out of Open Source solutions, or even negatively impacting the development of Open Source communities, projects and companies in the EU, so addressing them is vital.
In our feedback, we highlight how many public administrations are still unsure about deploying Open Source solutions, this despite Open Source seeing growing success in the public sector, with deployments by governments, regions and cities across Europe. We believe Open Source is ready to compete with and even replace proprietary software, the biggest barrier is not technical: it is social.
The EU can play a pivotal role in overcoming this barrier by fostering knowledge sharing between public administrations on the deployment of Open Source, giving them the confidence they need to deploy and learn from existing deployments.
It is also vital that Open Source is taken into account in the policymaking process. The EU has made massive strides forwards in this area over the last five years, and is clearly seeking to regulate with Open Source in mind. We believe one measure that could help the EU achieve that goal would be the creation of an Open Source expert group to examine policy proposals and highlight potential risks and benefits for Open Source. Such a group could be made up of a core set of representatives of Open Source organisations already in the EU, supplemented by a wide and diverse group of representatives from a variety of Open Source communities.
Finally, in its search for digital sovereignty, it is vital the EU doesn’t confuse independence with isolationism: we’ve recently heard some voices calling for “European Open Source”, but Open Source is by nature a global collaborative effort: it works because people around the world collaborate to make it happen. One of its core benefits is that the ability to study and fork the code enables the kind of trust and collaboration that lets countries benefit from global expertise while retaining local control. It is vital that the EU doesn’t take actions that undermine that global collaboration.
When it comes to Open Source, sovereignty isn’t a measure of how much of the code was written within your borders, it is defined by how a project is governed, and if you have the capabilities within your borders to sustain and improve it. Strengthening the EU’s Open Source capacity is the best way to strengthen its digital sovereignty.
What comes next?
The EU’s request for input on the strategy garnered over 1600 replies, making it one of the most successful in the EU’s recent history. It’s also a testament to the value of funding Open Source: much of the feedback comes from citizens praising the funding for Open Source and raising how it benefited them.
As the European Commission goes through the feedback, the OSI intends to work closely with them, providing proactive input and feedback for the strategy.I plan to meet with the Commission regularly in the coming months on this and other issues. Looking out for Open Source developers and educating policymakers is at the heart of what OSI does. Want to see more of it? Consider joining the OSI or donating here.
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