Linux Foundation Europe Launches to Foster European Open Source Collaboration and Innovation

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Newly formed entity unveils first World of Open Source 2022 Europe Spotlight Report highlighting opportunities for greater open source public sector and vertical industries participation to achieve sustainability and collective value creation

DUBLIN, Sept. 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Linux Foundation Europe launches today with a dozen members, the intent to form a disruptive inaugural project, and original research offering new insights into the European dynamics of open source. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, Linux Foundation Europe is led by Gabriele Columbro as General Manager. Columbro will continue to serve as the Executive Director of the Fintech Open Source Foundation (FINOS).

Linux Foundation Europe's mission is to accelerate the growth of thriving open collaborative efforts focused on challenges and opportunities of all European constituencies, from individuals to public and private sectors, while providing an on-ramp for European projects and companies to succeed and collaborate on a global scale.

"The Linux Foundation has done a phenomenal job bringing together the private sector and individual contributors on a global scale over the last two decades. As a native-born Italian raised in the thriving European open source community of the early 2000s, I am thrilled to focus our attention on long-standing challenges and opportunities we can help unlock in Europe through open collaboration," said Gabriele Columbro, general manager, Linux Foundation Europe.

Inaugural members of Linux Foundation Europe include at Platinum level: Ericsson; at Gold Level: Accenture; at Silver level: Alliander, Avast, Bosch, BTP, esatus, NXP Semiconductors, RTE, SAP, SUSE, and TomTom; Associate level:  Bank of England, OpenForum Europe, OpenUK and RISE Research Institute of Sweden. Participation in Linux Foundation Europe is open to any organization and free for existing Linux Foundation members.

Linux Foundation Europe will enable open collaborative projects to be hosted directly in European territory. Its inaugural project, the Open Wallet Foundation (OWF), just announced yesterday its intent to form. OWF is a new collaborative effort established to develop a digital wallet engine supporting interoperability for a wide range of use cases. The OWF initiative benefits from strong support, including leading companies across technology, public sector, and industry vertical segments.

Linux Foundation Europe's focus for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023 will be increasing global participation by establishing projects among individuals, companies, and organizations committed to  open source software, standards, and data innovations that are aligned and have shared missions. LF Europe is designed to enable collaboration by providing the structure for technology collaboration within the unique European model. Reach out if you are interested in hosting a project in Linux Foundation Europe.

"I'm delighted the Linux Foundation is supporting open source collaboration across the European market. Regional collaboration is important, and the Linux Foundation is positioned to help elevate European open source efforts to de facto standards on a global scale," said Jim Zemlin, executive director, Linux Foundation.

While open source collaboration is a global phenomenon impacting industries in all parts of the world, in order to better understand the regional dynamics of open source and European priorities, Linux Foundation Europe partnered with Linux Foundation Research and 13 other European entities, to explore the state of open source from a European perspective, focusing on government, enterprise and non-profit initiatives.

Results of The World of Open Source: 2022 Europe Spotlight research were released today and key insights include:          

• Open Source is widely recognized across countries and industries as a prime mechanism to deliver innovation
• The public sector is not leveraging the full power of open source collaboration to create collective value and advance the ambitious vision of the digital commons
• An imbalance between consumption and contribution policies challenges open source ecosystem sustainability

Funded by Linux Foundation Europe, this research was led by LF Research in collaboration with FINOS, LF Training & Certification, and LF Public Health. Additional support was provided by several organizations across the non-profit, for-profit, and academic sectors including Codemotion, Esade, Friedrich Alexander University, Institut de Govern i Polítiques Públiques (IGOP) de la Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, OpenForum Europe, Sailboard, Scott Logic, TU/Berlin, TU/Eindhoven, TODO Group Europe Chapter, Università di Roma Tre, and the University of Southampton.

About Linux Foundation Europe
The Linux Foundation and Linux Foundation Europe together are supported by more than 3000 members internationally. This expansion highlights the Linux Foundation's commitment towards growing a truly global, diverse and inclusive institution to continue transparently advancing Open Source growth and to facilitate regional—global collaboration. The Linux Foundation is the world's leading home for collaboration on open source software, hardware, standards, and data. Linux Foundation projects are critical to the world's infrastructure including Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, ONAP, Hyperledger Foundation, PyTorch, RISC-V, and more. Linux Foundation Europe methodology focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. For more information, please visit us at linuxfoundation.eu.

Linux Foundation Europe will establish an Advisory Board for its Members to influence direction and priorities in the European region. Get in touch at [email protected] if you are interested in joining.

Supporting Member Quotes:

"Open Source Software is a fundamental building block of today's telecommunication systems and thereby truly powers critical infrastructure. As a Platinum Member of Linux Foundation Europe, Ericsson is proud to support and foster open innovation in Europe in close collaboration with our customers, partners and the entire Open Source Software development community."

"Open source collaboration impacts all of our clients in every industry and future innovations such as digital wallet architecture requires working together to support portability, interoperability, privacy and security from the start," said David Treat, Global Metaverse Continuum Business Group & Blockchain lead, Accenture. "We're looking forward to collaborating with the expanding open source software community across Europe with the Linux Foundation. Through our founding membership, we will be able to help design and extend these collaborative efforts, innovations and software standards to all of our clients and partners across Europe."

"The energy transition is turning around the energy system at a global level with high ambitions on CO2 reduction. Being a distribution system operator at Alliander we are convinced that the only way to have impact in transforming the energy system is through collaboration. Being active in open source for nearly a decade (and 3 years at Linux Foundation Energy) has proven to Alliander that open source is a vital strategic pillar for reaching our goals," said Arjan Stam, Director, System Operations, Alliander.

"Becoming a founding member of Linux Foundation Europe represents the next step in our commitment to protecting digital freedom and the advancement of open ecosystems. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with other European companies and consortia, helping Europe lead the world on issues like privacy, data protection, digital wallets, and digital trust infrastructure," said Andy Tobin, Commercial Director, Europe for Digital Trust Services, at Avast, a brand of NortonLifeLock.

"Bosch has many years of experience in Open Source, and continuously increases its presence as a major adopter, contributor and supporter to multiple foundations," said Andree Zahir, Senior Vice President Cross-Domain Computing Solutions Business Unit Cockpit Technologies at Bosch. "We are excited to see the Linux Foundation intensifying its European activities, as Bosch clearly sees the potential this region has, to accelerate worldwide collaborative software development."

"Collaboration, decentralization, open standards, and transparency, are fundamental premises of distributed ledger technology (DLT) — the space BTP operates in. Our company has been a leading voice in the open source community as a member of CNCF, Hyperledger Foundation, LF Energy, and most recently FINOS," said Csilla Zsigri, VP Strategy at BTP. "Therefore, we are thrilled to be founding members of LF Europe, and help further accelerate the adoption of distributed ledgers and associated technologies in Europe."

"esatus is proud to be among the inaugural members of Linux Foundation Europe. Collaborative Open Source initiatives enabled by the Linux Foundation are the gold standard for successful, innovative and transparent software solutions. We are extremely pleased that Linux Foundation is now leveraging the Open Source Ecosystem to the particular requirements of the European community, to help achieve—among other goals—digital sovereignty," said Dr. André Kudra, CIO, esatus AG.

"NXP has a long history of collaboration with the Linux Foundation, and many of our customers around the globe rely on the Linux Foundation and its related projects," said Robert Oshana, Vice President of Software Engineering, NXP Semiconductors. "With a strong focus on the unique needs of European markets, the new Linux Foundation Europe will provide our European customers with new resources through open collaboration."

"As a power transmission system operator in France, RTE is committed to accelerating the energy transition. Open source collaborations are essential to this mission, to increase tenfold the innovation, speed, and cost-efficiency of core business software projects. We started investing in open source communities in 2018, notably as a founding member of LF Energy. Today, we are excited to join LF Europe and continue this successful journey," said Lucian Balea, Open Source Program Director at RTE.

"The Linux Foundation has been instrumental in bringing diverse interests, companies, and developer communities together to jointly create open-source software that ultimately empowers our modern civilization. Collaboration and co-innovation across companies is much easier when facilitated with a neutral foundation," says Dr. Michael Ameling, SVP, Head of Intelligent Enterprise and BTP Foundation, SAP SE. "SAP is a long-term supporter and active member of the Linux Foundation and its projects. As Europe's largest software company, SAP is fully committed with its engagement in the Linux Foundation, and supports its international expansion."

"One of our goals at SUSE is to provide the freedom and the ability to innovate everywhere," said Thomas Di Giacomo, chief product and technology officer at SUSE. "We are committed to open source, its power and its ongoing growth throughout the world. That continued growth demands new and stronger collaboration, facilitated by open source foundations that are also able to service projects rooted in Europe. Founded in Europe 30 years ago and now publicly listed there, SUSE is pleased to support the creation and launch of the Linux Foundation Europe."

"At TomTom we are mapmakers, providing geolocation technology for drivers, carmakers, enterprises, and developers. Our business and products rely on open source software. Through our Linux Foundation Europe membership we continue to collaborate on open source software and standards together with our customers, partners and peers," said Eric Bowman, CTO at TomTom.

"The Linux Foundation Europe provides a great opportunity for people and organisations of every type to contribute and benefit from the open source approach. We look forward to contributing to their ongoing work ensuring that everyone benefits from greater open source collaboration," said William Lovell, Head of Future Technology, Bank of England.

"Open Source is at the heart of Europe's collaborative culture and is a fundamental building block of its new digital reality. When looking at the world's big challenges, from the pandemic and supply chain shortages to climate change, open innovation is stepping up and is a source of optimism. The creation of Linux Foundation Europe is an important recognition of Europe as an Open Source champion and brings more weight to the new institutional set-ups that our continent needs. OpenForum Europe is excited to join LF Europe! Together with Europe's Open Source ecosystem, we will create the modes of collaboration at scale that are needed to find solutions to our complex problems," said Sachiko Muto, Chairman, Open Forum Europe.

"Bienvenue a l'Europe, Linux Foundation. OpenUK looks forward to continued collaboration with the Linux Foundation both in the US and the EU. Open Source Software is today under the government spotlight internationally because it is the bedrock for the digital infrastructure we all rely on every day, and it needs effective security, curation and stewardship over time. This translates into sustainable support for the right people, communities and organisations to continue that open source success. We welcome this new partnership aligned to our lead in the global collaborative response, furthering our vision of UK leadership and international collaboration in Open Technology," said Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK.

"Open source software allows a more independent and faster digitalization of European industry and society. As a branch of one of the leading open source ecosystems - Linux Foundation Europe will play a vital role here. As Sweden's largest research institute, we look forward to working together with a focus on strengthening the open source community and initiatives in Europe, for both industry and society." Joakim Eriksson, Head of Connected Intelligence Unit at RISE Research Institutes of Sweden.

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SOURCE The Linux Foundation