Have you ever stopped to think about how much open source software you use in your day-to-day life without even being aware of it? From most of the apps on your smartphone, to your connected home devices, to the software running in your car. In all of these programs, much of the code is partly based on open source software.

The vast majority of the websites we visit in our daily lives work thanks to open source software (sometimes called free software). From the operating system of their servers and the databases that store information, to the code of their applications, they are, fundamentally, free software. Moreover, 90% of the world's cloud infrastructure is based on Linux as the operating system (OS), perhaps the most recognised free and open source software in the world. 

But what is free or open source software?

Open source software combines copyright and a license to give users the freedom to run the software, analyse it, make modifications, and share the code and its modifications with others. Open source software facilitates innovation and agility in the development of new applications as it eliminates barriers and friction when collaborating.

European open source software strategy 2020-2023

At the end of October 2020, the European Commission published an update of its 2020-2023 strategy for the promotion of open source software in the European digital space. The strategy is built on the capacity of open source software to achieve technological sovereignty in Europe. The essence of open source software is aligned with the values of the European Commission, which ensures that all member states benefit from it.

The title of this strategy, Think Open, points to a change of approach in which software solutions are designed from the standpoint of openness, sharing, reuse, security, privacy, accessibility and legal considerations. It also demonstrates a clear commitment to actively support the open source developer communities. 

No less important is the fact that this strategy complements the equivalent European strategy for data.

Increasingly, free software development and open data are becoming more closely related. Much of today's most widely used free software aims to extract value from data in order to make intelligent decisions. This new strategy on free software, together with the also recent European Directive (2019/1024) on open data and the re-use of public sector information, provides the perfect legal framework to enhance Europe's digital transformation in the hands of free software and open data.

Objectives of the strategy

As mentioned above, the benefits of using open source software are: 

• The code is public, it can be reused and adapted in a collaborative way. 
• The code can be improved and audited for security issues, regardless of suppliers.
• This adaptability of the code ensures potential interoperability between systems and solutions. 

These benefits clearly support the high-level objectives of this strategy:

• To support the Commission's policy priorities and activities with secure digital means and state-of-the-art solutions.
• To provide the Commission with high quality, reliable and borderless digital public services
• Enable the transformation of the Commission and maximise its role in policy making.
• To make the Commission a world-class "open administration". An agile, collaborative and innovative administration.
• Ensuring the security of the Commission's IT assets.
•     Ensuring the technological resilience of the Commission.

In order to launch and implement this new strategy, the Commission is planning to set up an office for the coordination of the open source software Programme. This office will be responsible for implementing a series of concrete actions aimed at having the greatest transformational impact. The following are some of the concrete actions planned.

          Source: Open Source software strategy 2020-2023.  

It is hoped that these actions will provide the tools to strengthen and expand the open source culture. The aim is that, gradually, the source code will be made available to all Commission developer teams.

Once the legal barriers are removed, an increasing number of solutions developed internally, under the open source paradigm, will be made available to the general public. The contributions of thousands of citizens to open source projects will undoubtedly contribute to building Europe's digital sovereignty.

Content elaborated by Alejandro Alija, expert in Digital Transformation and Innovation.

Contents and points of view expressed in this publication are the exclusive responsibility of its author.