EU Open Source Week - Digital Sovereignty Runs on Open Source

During European Open Source Week in Brussels, the Sovereign Tech Agency engaged across policy, community, regulatory, and technical contexts — connecting open source practice with the long-term resilience of Europe’s digital infrastructure. European Open Source Week brought contributors, maintainers, policymakers, the private sector as well as public institutions together to focus on the software that underpins Europe’s digital systems. Our participation spanned technical community spaces, security and sustainability discussions, and policy and political forums. Lea Beiermann and Kurt Garloff from left to right: Paul Sharratt and Powen Shiah from our team FOSDEM FOSDEM remains one of the most important gatherings for the global open source community, bringing together contributors and maintainers from across thousands of projects.This year, the Sovereign Tech Agency co-organized the ”Funding the FOSS Ecosystem” devroom, hosting panels and talks on sustainability, funding models, and long-term maintenance. The sessions reflected a wide range of experiences, from individual maintainers to organizations working to support open source at scale.On Sunday, our stand served as a place to meet developers, contributors, and users, and to have great conversations about the challenges in maintaining critical and widely used software. Adriana Groh speaking at the digital commons panel at the Software Heritage Summit Paul Sharratt speaking in a “fishbowl” style panel at CHAOSScon 2026 Breakfast presentation on the European Union Sovereign Tech Fund study hosted by MEP Michał Kobosko What We’re Taking Home European Open Source Week reinforced how closely policy, community, and technical practice are intertwined.