From open source policy to working systems
How public administrations and businesses turn an open source-first commitment into procurement that works, infrastructure they can sustain, and governance they can defend.
We occupy the space between policy and practice - where the political commitment to open source and digital sovereignty meets the operational reality of making it work. Most advisory stops at the strategy document. We do not. The outcome we work towards is consistent: de-risked organisations, improved performance, and reduced cost - sovereignty as an operational result rather than a policy aspiration.
The moment
The EU spends in the order of EUR 264 billion each year on mostly non-European proprietary IT, and depends on suppliers outside the Union for over 80% of its digital products and services. The European response now treats open source as strategic infrastructure: an open source-first principle in public cloud and AI procurement, a "public money, public code" expectation on software the public sector buys, sustained funding for the maintenance of critical components, and new structures to steward them.
The institutional vehicle for much of this is operational. The Digital Commons EDIC, established by France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Luxembourg, has grown to twelve participating countries, appointed its first Director, and begun its first projects - including a pilot of a European Sovereign Tech Fund. The direction is set. What follows is delivery.
What the EU Open Source Strategy commits to, and what it leaves for implementation →
Where we work
Open source strategy most often fails not at the level of intent but at the level of execution. Procurement designed around proprietary vendors quietly excludes open alternatives. Governance frameworks arrive after implementation has begun. Maintenance obligations and contributor provenance go unaddressed until they become liabilities. Open Digital works in the gap between the commitment and the working system.
Open source procurement
Designing procurement that separates software from services, keeps the supplier market competitive, and preserves the right to switch.
Governance and provenance
Frameworks for how organisations contribute, account for obligations, and handle AI-assisted code - built for how software is made today.
Foundations and stewardship
Governance design, sustainable funding, operating models, and organisational development for the bodies that steward open source infrastructure - helping foundations run with the discipline of a business.
Implementation and funding
Sequencing adoption programmes, and navigating the European funding landscape so that what gets delivered matches what was promised.
Who this is for
The organisations responsible for delivering on Europe's open source commitments: national digital agencies and the bodies responsible for public administration technology across Member States, the institutions building shared digital commons at European level, and corporate digital leaders whose supply chains and public sector clients are moving with them.
For these organisations the question is no longer whether to adopt open source commons. It is how to govern shared infrastructure, procure it in a way that preserves competition and the right to switch, build the internal capability to sustain what is adopted, and align national programmes with what is being built at European level.
Engagements are selective and shaped by context.
What we do in detail → · Who we work with → · Get in touch →