Michiel Leenaars of the NLnet Foundation discusses the challenges of building European digital sovereignty through open source infrastructure amid uncertain funding cycles and reliance on proprietary technology providers.

Key Points

• The NLnet Foundation has funded over 1,450 open source projects across 80 countries using small grants ranging from 5,000 to 50,000 Euro.
• Funding primarily stems from the European Commission’s Next Generation Internet programme, though the successor "Open Internet Stack" initiative faces budget constraints and uncertainty.
• Leenaars argues that true digital sovereignty requires infrastructure that is replaceable and controllable, rather than simply being owned by a company with a European address.
• The foundation supports a wide range of technologies, including open hardware chips, office suites, search engines, and decentralized social media platforms like Mastodon.
• Leenaars advocates for treating essential software as a public good, warning that current reliance on proprietary "pseudo-infrastructure" creates dangerous dependencies on external entities.

Why it Matters

Establishing independent digital infrastructure is critical for Europe to reduce its economic and operational reliance on foreign proprietary software and cloud services. By funding modular, open source alternatives, organizations like NLnet aim to create a sustainable, self-governing digital stack that remains functional regardless of commercial or geopolitical pressures.