From Insights to Action: Exploring Europe's Open Source Future in Amsterdam

What are the most significant trends shaping open source in Europe today, and how is the community turning those insights into tangible, innovative technology?

At the upcoming Open Source Summit Europe 2025, two key panel discussions will provide a unique opportunity to explore these questions. One will delve into the data and motivations driving the European ecosystem, while the other will showcase a powerful example of collaborative development in action. Together, they offer a complete picture of the continent's open source journey, spanning from high-level findings to hands-on implementation.

Understanding the Landscape: Europe’s Open Source Motivations and Mandate

When: Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 11:55 - 12:35 CEST Where: Room D203

This conversation centers on the findings from the 2025 World of Open Source Survey, focusing on what the data tells us about the state of open source in Europe. Panelists from LF Research and LF Europe, including Mirko Boehm, Paloma Oliviera, and Christian Neu, will facilitate a discussion on the report's most salient points and what they mean for the community.

Attendees will have the opportunity to explore helpful insights on:

• Why a "maturity gap" exists, where non-technical executives may view OSS as a collection of free tools, while their teams see it as the fundamental infrastructure all modern solutions depend on.
• A deeper look at digital sovereignty, focusing not just on where code is written, but on building the capacity to develop, modify, and control technology through open standards.
• The latest in the movement for public funding to produce public code, and the progress of initiatives like the EU Sovereign Tech Fund.
• The vibrant European AI community that is embracing smaller, specialized models and collaborative data projects like Poland's SpeakLeash Foundation.

From Theory to Practice: A Look Inside the NeoNephos Foundation

When: Wednesday, August 27, 2025, 14:10 - 14:50 CEST Where: Room D203 (Elicium Level 2)

This panel moves from the strategic "why" to the practical "how." Attendees will hear directly from the founding members and leaders of the NeoNephos Foundation, a new Linux Foundation Europe initiative announced at KubeCon London 2025. The discussion will feature speakers from SAP, T-Systems, STACKIT, x-cellent, and the CNCF, who will share the story of building a new foundation from the ground up.

This session offers a chance to understand:

• The origin of NeoNephos: Learn why a new, vendor-neutral European foundation was needed to support the ambitious goals of the EU’s IPCEI-CIS project, which aims to create a multi-provider, cloud-edge continuum for Europe.
• Real-world impact: Hear how the combination of Project Gardener and IronCore is already powering critical eHealth infrastructure in Germany.
• Collaboration on critical infrastructure: Discover how technologies like MetalStack were purpose-built for mission-critical environments in the financial and energy sectors to enable sovereign cloud capabilities.
• Building on CNCF: A representative from the CNCF will explain how NeoNephos provides value for specific European use cases while building upon the fundamental projects hosted by the CNCF, not competing with them.

The future of open source in Europe is a story of data-driven strategy and hands-on, collaborative building. We hope you’ll join these important conversations in Amsterdam.