Name: Securing Europe's Open Source Infrastructure: A Technical Case for an EU-Wide Sovereign Tech Fund - Nick Gates, OpenForum Europe & Felix Reda, GitHub
Start: 2025-08-26T11:00:00+0200
End: 2025-08-26T11:40:00+0200

25-27, August 2025
Amsterdam, Netherlands
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Note: The schedule is subject to change.

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IMPORTANT NOTE: Timing of sessions and room locations are subject to change.

Tuesday August 26, 2025 11:00 - 11:40 CEST

Auditorium

This session examines the proposed EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF), a mechanism inspired by Germany's Sovereign Tech Agency to address critical maintenance gaps in open source components underpinning European digital infrastructure.

Technical findings from a June 2025 feasibility study will be surveyed, which reveal the economic, legal, and political arguments for implementing an EU-wide Sovereign Tech Fund. Then, expert panelists will unpack the technical architecture of this maintenance crisis, demonstrating how the proposed EU-STF creates practical mechanisms for collaborative public-private efforts, as well as key use cases.

Attendees will learn implementation models that bridge the gap between how developers understand maintenance challenges (technical debt, security vulnerabilities, dependency management) and how policymakers frame these issues (resilience, sovereignty, compliance). They will gain actionable insights into:

-- How public FOSS funds need to be designed to reach critical but under-resourced components

-- Aligning the goals of FOSS maintenance funding to the needs of developers and policymakers

-- How to help make the EU-STF a reality

Speakers

Nick Gates

Senior Policy Advisor, OpenForum Europe

Nick Gates is a Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe, where he leads OFE’s work on the NGI Commons initiative and manages projects related to open source research and policy. Nick has significant experience in digital government, particularly around open source, public financial management... Read More →

Felix Reda

Director of Developer Policy, GitHub

Felix Reda (he/they) is the Director of Developer Policy at GitHub. He has been shaping digital policy for over ten years, including serving as a Member of the European Parliament from 2014 to 2019. Felix is an affiliate of the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard... Read More →

Tuesday August 26, 2025 11:00 - 11:40 CEST
Auditorium

Open Source Leadership

Audience Experience Level Beginner

Open Source Summit Europe 2025

Nick Gates

Felix Reda

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