The European Commission has adopted a European Technological Sovereignty Package that includes an “Open source Strategy” for public administrations to promote open and interoperable digital systems.
The package sets out an approach intended to reduce the EU’s dependence on non-EU technology providers, the Commission informed on Wednesday.
A central element is a Strategy for an EU Open Digital Ecosystem, which the Commission described as promoting open and interoperable digital ecosystems at EU level and within public administrations — government bodies that run public services and implement policy.
The Commission said it will promote the use of open standards in public procurement, so public authorities can choose solutions without being “locked into” proprietary systems, DG Translation in a city near you: June events said.
It pointed to its recently awarded “Sovereign Cloud” tender, which introduced “sovereignty” as a main criterion and included a methodology to measure it, the organisation added.
Three-part framework and existing tools
The Commission’s framework for an open digital ecosystem is built around three pillars: “trusted assets”, “empowered communities” and “strong governance.”
“Trusted assets” include secure, well-maintained shared code repositories and flexible licensing, while “empowered communities” refers to networks that create and maintain shared software and services.
On governance, the Commission said it will embed “openness” and “sovereignty-by-design” into digital investment and project lifecycles, including assessing interoperability — the ability of different systems to work together — as well as portability and sustainability from early design stages.
The Commission also highlighted existing initiatives, including the creation of an Open Source Programme Office (EC OSPO) and the launch of code.europa.eu, a code development platform for open source projects where EU institutions hold the intellectual property rights.
It also cited the EU Open Source Solutions Catalogue, which it said has increased the adoption and visibility of open source and open technologies across Commission services and public administrations.
The Commission said it will continue working with member states, public administrations and open source communities to implement the strategy, including supporting the development of open source solutions and encouraging the reuse of software developed or purchased by public administrations.
