A blog post published by GitHub discusses a study conducted by Open Forum Europe, Fraunhofer ISI, and the European University Institute, which highlights the mismatch between the importance of open source software maintenance and the public attention it receives. The study proposes the creation of a European Sovereign Tech Fund (STF), modeled after Germany’s Sovereign Tech Agency. It suggests two approaches: a centralized EU institution (“moonshot model”) or a coalition of EU member states providing initial funding and applying for EU budget support (“pragmatic model”). Under both models, at least €350 million from the EU’s 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework is needed. While insufficient to fully meet open source maintenance demands, this could attract co-financing from industry and national governments, creating long-term impact.
Written by GitHub’s Director of Developer Policy, Felix Reda, a former European Parliament member with a long-standing focus on open source ecosystem sustainability, the blog emphasizes that open source software, a critical digital infrastructure, is vital to the global economy and society but severely underfunded. According to the study, open source software generates a demand-side value of $8.8 trillion globally and contributes €65-95 million annually to the EU’s GDP. However, one-third of open source maintainers work unpaid, and nearly one-third of projects are maintained by a single individual, posing risks to the ecosystem’s security and health.
To address this, GitHub proposes establishing the European Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF), drawing on the success of Germany’s Sovereign Tech Agency. The fund would focus on identifying critical open source dependencies, investing in maintenance and security, improving projects, and strengthening the open source ecosystem. It requires at least €350 million in EU budget support, supplemented by industry and national government co-financing.
The EU-STF must meet seven design criteria: centralized financing, low bureaucracy, political independence, flexible fund allocation, community involvement, alignment with EU strategic goals, and high transparency. GitHub is advocating for the EU to include the fund in the 2028-2035 Multiannual Financial Framework and is collaborating with industry partners like Mercedes-Benz to highlight open source maintenance’s contributions to economic competitiveness, digital sovereignty, and cybersecurity. The public can support the initiative by contacting the European Commission, European Parliament, or national governments to help make the fund a reality.
GitHub Blog: We need a European Sovereign Tech Fund
https://github.blog/open-source/maintainers/we-need-a-european-sovereign-tech-fund/
