European Commission gathering feedback on the importance of open source

The European Commission recently launched a call for evidence on a newer initiative about the importance of open source, and their reliance on non-EU countries. As covered by CADE, the initiative is called "Towards European open digital ecosystems", and it sets out how they're trying to sort their approach towards the open-source sector across the European Union.

From the official EU document they note how the new strategy will "address the economic and political importance of open source, as a crucial contribution to a strategic framework for EU technological sovereignty, competitiveness and cybersecurity" and that it will "set out actions to strengthen the broader EU open ecosystem of solutions and products in critical sectors, including internet technologies, cloud, artificial intelligence (AI), cybersecurity, open hardware, and industrial applications (e.g. automotive and manufacturing)".

The problems they want to tackle? They say the "EU faces a significant problem of dependence on non-EU countries in the digital sphere" which "reduces users' choice, hampers EU companies' competitiveness and can raise supply chain security issues as it makes it difficult to control our digital infrastructure (both physical and software components), potentially creating vulnerabilities including in critical sectors".

Another thing they do highlight is that "much of the value generated by open-source projects is exploited outside the EU, often benefiting tech giants". They go on to highlight various existing initiatives where the EU funds open source, but they mention how "supporting open-source communities solely through research and innovation programmes is not sufficient for successful upscaling and that it is critical to support emerging developer communities and businesses in scaling up via sustainable support and governance frameworks".

A lot of regular readers and people in the tech sector will already be very aware of all the issues, especially with lots of big US tech giants reaping the benefits of open source with barely a contribution back. It's not difficult to see why the EU would want to break away from constantly relying on US tech, especially with the current political climate too.

Their key objectives:

• Continuing development and ensuring appropriate visibility of EU high-quality and secure open-source solutions and demonstrating their added value;
• Addressing issues of deployment, usability, software supply chain security and governance, maintenance of code and project sustainability to ensure take-up and upscaling;
• Supporting emerging open-source business and sustainability models for open-source companies and foundations, including by developing public-private partnerships;
• Promoting best practice and encouraging the public sector, specialised business sectors and large customers to contribute to and adopt open source; and
• Supporting market integration, especially with legacy systems and policy alignment.

You can see the document for the consultation on the official EU website, and if you're an EU citizen you can submit feedback on it too.