Open Source Driving the European Digital Decade | Sweden

Cybersecurity is a top priority for politicians and businesses globally. Open source’s major role in digitisation, being the majority of software in existence, has received increased attention. The increase in supply chain attacks have also elevated the discussion to the highest political level. Europe needs to join forces to build and maintain safe solutions. During this panel, ongoing initiatives, both industry-led and regulatory, are presented and the panel discusses how to work with open source to strengthen cybersecurity.

Panelists:

• Shafagh Elhami, Swedish Government Offices, Ministry of Finance
• Daniel Melin, Strategist, Swedish Tax Authority
• Johan Linåker, Senior Researcher, RISE
• Georg Kunz, Open Source Manager, Ericsson
• Ciarán O’Riordan, Senior Policy Adviser, OpenForum Europe

Moderator:

• Astor Nummelin Carlberg, OpenForum Europe

What is needed for public administrations and private actors to collaborate on joint open source projects?

The panel will discuss the need for new skills, OSPOs and other types of networks and Communities to create conditions for a growing collaboration.

Panelists:

• Maria Dalhage, Project Manager Open Data and Open Source, Arbetsförmedlingen
• Gjis Hillenius, Open Source Programme Office, European Commission
• Jan Ainali, Codebase Steward, Foundation for Public Code
• Gabriele Columbro, General Manager, Linux Foundation Europe

Open source procurement is the original open source policy question. Things are very different today than 15 years ago, however. The open source industry of Europe is brimming with activity to meet the demand from the public sector, and at the same time the public sector are rapidly increasing their ambition level with open source products, solutions and services. What new skills are needed in the public sector? How can we increase the capacity of the European OSS industry? How can we ensure that legacy laws and frameworks are updated to enable rather than hinder this opportunity?

Panelists:

• Timo Väliharju, President, APELL (The European Open Source Business Association)
• Tony Nicolaides, RedPill Linpro & Open Source Sweden
• Göran Westerlund, Alingsås kommun & Sambruk
• Bastien Guerry, Head of the Free Software at the Inter-Ministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs in France
• Lucie Smolka, Chairman of the Committee, Open Cities

Moderator:

• Björn Lundell, Professor of Computer Science, University of Skövde & President, Open Source Sweden

At the same time as open technologies in general and open source specifically play a large part in the European Commission’s and Member States’ plans of achieving its digital policy goals, there are risks of unintended consequences from a number of legislative files. This panel will take on the challenge to paint the broader picture, connecting policy and legislative efforts such as:

• The Interoperable Europe Act
• The European Public Sector OSPO Networks
• Cybersecurity Resilience act
• New Product Liability Directive
• The AI Act
• EUs Data Act
• Horizon Europe funding

Panelists:

• Sachiko Muto, Chair OpenForum Europe/Senior Researcher, RISE
• James Lovegrove, Public Policy Director, Red Hat

Moderator:

• Ciarán O’Riordan, Senior Policy Adviser, OpenForum Europe