OSPOs as Sovereignty Engines

The panelists at the Open Source EU Policy Summit 2026

Delivering digital sovereignty requires more than regulation and investment – it depends on institutional capability. I’ve been invited to join a panel at the EU Open Source Policy Summit focusing on how large organisations, both public and private, are building the structures needed to adopt and sustain open approaches. We discussed the role of Open Source Programme Offices (OSPOs) as engines of institutional learning, collaboration, and governance, and the potential for a EU policy to accelerate this transformation. Drawing on examples from critical sectors – including energy, transport, and public administration – the discussion explored how organisational capacity can strengthen Europe’s digital resilience and enable openness at scale.

My main arguments were:

1. OSPOs are more than just a team for managing Open Source software – they are a strategic function that can drive cultural change, cross-functional collaboration, and ecosystem engagement across an organisation. They act as vertical and horizontal enablers.
2. In the debate around Digital Sovereignty, Open Source is a highly relevant option on the table, and goes far beyond “Buy European”. OSPOs can help organisations navigate the complex landscape of Open Source, build internal expertise, and foster partnerships that enhance sovereignty through openness.
3. OSPOs cannot drive this change alone. External support in the form of strategy, incentives and regulation is needed, especially for organizations under high regulatory pressure or with limited resources. This needs to be coherent vertically across the EU and horizontally across sectors.

It was a pleasure to elaborate this with my co-panelistzs Manuel Mateo Goyet (Acting Head of Unit CNECT.E.2, European Commission), Lucian Balea (Deputy Director of R&D and Open Source Director, RTE), Supriya Chitale (Open Source Program Office Manager, IKEA Group) and moderator Johan Linåker (Senior Researcher, Research Institutes of Sweden).