OFE Newsletter: First OTR Symposium closes with a new Basil Cousins Award winner

OFE NEWSLETTER

October 2026

Earlier this week on 26-27 October, the first edition of the Open Technology Research Symposium 2026 took place at the University of Barcelona. The OTR Symposium is the successor to the OFE’s OpenForum Academy. It continues to advance understanding of the role of open technologies in the modern world and take the next step of producing policy-relevant research that helps decision-makers drive impact.

Over two days, Open Technology Research convened researchers and practitioners under the theme: Shaping the Open Transition, bringing together a global network dedicated to open technologies, digital rights, and democratic innovation. Across six thematic blocks and 22 sessions, the programme featured paper presentations, a fireside chat, and a special presentation and panel discussion on open technologies in Barcelona. The Symposium took place as part of the Barcelona Open Tech Week.

At the closing session of the event, Yigakpoa S. L. Ikpae received OFE’s Basil Cousins Award, for her research paper entitled: “Digital Commons as Civic Infrastructure: Governance Frameworks for Open Source AI and Public Accountability”. Her paper asked the question: How can governments in the Global South use AI without becoming dependent on proprietary, opaque systems? Ikpae proposed a Public-Commons Partnership (PCP) model, in which governments and civic tech networks jointly look after open infrastructure, and a policy blueprint that makes openness a requirement in public procurement.

OpenForum Europe instituted the Basil Cousins’ Award in 2023, in memory of our co-founder, Basil Cousins – a pioneer in understanding the role of open technologies and open source in society.

OFE wants to thank everyone who participated and made the event possible. We have published the event photos and a blog post recapping the event will follow in the coming weeks.

OFE at the European Internet Forum: Funding Europe’s Open Digital Infrastructure

The European Internet Forum has published its schedule for the coming months, and we are pleased to share that OFE is co-organising a lunch debate at the European Parliament on 2 February 2027.

Funding Europe’s Open Digital Infrastructure will take place from 12:30 to 14:00 in the Members’ Salon in the European Parliament, with opening remarks from MEP Michał Kobosko. Speakers will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

When OFE published its EU Sovereign Tech Fund feasibility study, a dedicated EU funding instrument for open source maintenance was still just a proposal. A lot has changed since then. The EU Open Source Strategy, adopted in June 2026 as part of the Commission’s Tech Sovereignty Package, explicitly commits to establishing an Open Source Maintenance Instrument. The Digital Commons EDIC is already piloting the EU-STF model on the ground. And negotiations are under way to earmark funding for open source maintenance through the European Competitiveness Fund’s Digital Leadership Window under the next MFF.

Three instruments are now in play, each with different governance models, eligibility criteria and timelines. The question for this debate is not whether Europe should fund its open digital infrastructure but how the three instruments will be coordinated, how funding will flow to the maintainers, SMEs and communities doing the work, and what governance conditions will determine whether the policy commitment translates into practice.

OFE’s Capital Series Ireland in Review

OpenForum Europe's Capital Series took place in Dublin on 13 October. The conference was recognised as an official Associated Event of the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU 2026. We have published the event recordings and photos and a blog post with the takeaways from the event.

The event opened with a keynote address by Dimitri Lorenzani (Head of Unit – Strategy and Funding Coordination for Research and Deployment Investments - DG CNECT, European Commission). He emphasised that the EU does not have an innovation problem, pointing out that it produces as many tech startups each year as the US. The issue is turning them into global scale companies. From the Commission’s point of view, financial sovereignty is essential for tech sovereignty.

The panel “Open Source technologies and European Digital Sovereignty: Building Competitiveness Across Smaller Territories” looked beyond the largest EU member states, dove into regional open source software and artificial intelligence initiatives in smaller regions and territories of Ireland and other EU regions. The second session “From Brussels to Dublin on the Tech Sovereignty Package” brought the Brussels policy discussions to Dublin, specifically on the Tech Sovereignty Package and how to maintain political attention around open technologies.

After the lunch break, Louise McKeever, (Government Chief Information Officer at Department of Public Expenditure, Infrastructure, Public Service Reform and Digitalisation) was clear: the question no longer is whether governments can use open source, we know it can. She detailed Ireland’s ambitious plan for 100% of their key public services to be available online by 2030 and insisted that the recently published Tech Sovereignty Package is a significant development for a human-centred digital transition.

The panel "Open Source technologies and AI for Irish SMEs: Unlocking Cross-Border Growth" made the economic case for open source. Irish academics and SME representatives discussed how open source technologies and open source AI can support SME-driven growth and cross-border opportunities. Lastly, the discussion "The Future of AI Governance: Bridging Policy and Practice for Trusted AI Adoption" looked at the future of AI governance, in Ireland with the creation of the new AI Office, and more widely with the Open Source AI Definition.

The next edition of OFE’s Capital Series will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania, more details will be announced in the coming months.

OFE welcomes the publication of the European Commission’s proposal for the New Standardisation Regulation

Earlier this month, the European Commission submitted a proposal for the New Standardisation Regulation, repealing the Standardisation Regulation 1025/2012.

The legislative procedure offers an opportunity to overhaul key parts of the standardisation system and to make it easier for more stakeholders to be involved in European standard-setting. Open source organisations and communities involved in standardisation stand to benefit significantly. The revision could be a step in the right direction, although questions remain around key aspects affecting IT businesses in Europe. In our latest blog post, OFE Policy Advisor Ola Adach looks at what the proposal gets right and where it can be improved.

Standardisation has been a long-standing focus of OFE's work, with several contributions on improving the processes for standardisation in Europe over the decades. OFE will support the Commission and the co-legislators in developing this proposal into law.

The EU Open Source Policy Summit 2027 in approaching

OpenForum Europe’s flagship event the EU Open Source Policy Summit 2027 will take place on 29 January 2027, in Brussels, Belgium and online. We are currently finalising the agenda, which will be published in the coming weeks.

The 2027 Summit, held under the theme “turning EU open source ambitions into reality”, will explore how to put the European Commission’s Open Source Strategy into practice. Sessions will address how the EU can reduce its technological dependency and still play an active role in global cooperation, how it can keep existing digital businesses competitive and help new ones grow, and how the open source ecosystem can be supported to achieve these aims.

Our flagship event brings policymakers, industry, academia and open source experts together to explore how open source can address Europe’s digital policy challenges, with time for meetings. In-person places are limited and invitations go out on a rolling basis to those who register interest. Online participation is open to all.

Catch up on the last edition of the Summit and watch the recordings here and read our key takeaways here. You can already submit your expression of interest to participate in-person or register for the online edition.

The European Commission’s Open Source Observatory (OSOR) published the Paper on Progress and Trends 2026

The report includes a case study on Switzerland and Ukraine. Despite their different institutional contexts and relationships with the EU, both countries frame open source in terms of digital sovereignty, resilience and vendor independence, in line with the EU.

OpenForum Europe contributes expertise, articles, reports, and open source community engagement to the European Commission's Open Source Observatory (OSOR).

Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 – Digital Commons and the Open Internet Stack for a Competitive Europe

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 – Digital Commons and the Open Internet Stack for a Competitive Europe will take place on the 12th November 2026 in Brussels, Belgium

OpenForum Europe is a member of the NGI Commons consortium organising the Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026, in close collaboration with the European Commission. The Summit brings together policymakers, regulators, funders and practitioners to help deliver on the ambitions of the Tech Sovereignty Package and the EU Open Source Strategy. OFE's Executive Director Laszlo Igneczi be a speaker at this summit and Senior Policy Advisor Nicholas Gates will moderate the panel entitled: The Commoners & Funding Session: Securing the Future.

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 builds on the successful 2025 edition, which established Digital Commons as a key ingredient for achieving European Digital Sovereignty. The 2026 edition shifts from introduction to implementation of the Tech Sovereignty Package, making sure that the Digital Commons Communities are truly empowered, as promised in the EU Open Source Strategy.

Registration is free, but mandatory. Please note that in-person attendance is limited. If you're not allocated a seat, the entire event will be accessible online so you can follow along remotely.

OFE on Tour

6 November 2026: Nicholas Gates attends Open Open 2026 in Brno, Czechia.

12 November 2026: Nicholas Gates attends the Digital Commons Policy Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

16 November 2026: Clara Thébert and Kian Trant attend the DIGITAL SME Alliance Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

17 November 2026: Clara Thébert attends Why Made in Europe is good for Europe in Brussels, Belgium.

17 November 2026: Aimilia Givropoulou attends ApplyAI Summit in Brussels, Belgium.

17 November 2026: Kian Trant and Sofia Linna attend European Internet’s Forum: Digital Omnibus and EU’s competitiveness in Brussels, Belgium.

17-19 November 2026: Nicholas Gates attends the DPGA Annual Members Meeting in Paris, France.

18 November 2026: Sofia Linna and Kian Trant attend the .eu Day: The Autonomous Web: Agentic AI, Cybersecurity, and the Future of Digital Trust in Brussels, Belgium.

30 November 2026: Aimilia Givropoulou and Sofia Linna attend Digital Networks Act: Can Europe catch up on telecoms? in Brussels, Belgium.