"NOODL. An experiment in equitable data licensing: promise and limits." report cover with Open Future branded image background.

Open licensing promised democratization, but access alone doesn't guarantee equitable outcomes. That's the Paradox of Open. The NOODL license is one of the most concrete responses to it yet, examined in a new report by @alek.eurosky.social.
Read more: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Aligning research and innovation funding to the dynamics of Digital Commons - Policy brief cover with Open Future branded image background.

The EU’s digital funding prioritizes disruption and short-cycle projects, while critical open source infrastructure and Digital Commons go unsupported—not for lack of value, but for the right funding frameworks. Our new policy brief sets out what those should look like. openfuture.eu/publication/...

Fostering plurality, integrity and safety in digital public spaces - Policy brief cover with Open Future branded image background.

Digital public spaces need more than regulation; they need public infrastructure. Our new policy brief (authored by @aditya.myatproto.social and Zuzanna Warso) proposes public investment in interoperable, commons-based communication infrastructure. openfuture.eu/publication/...

Met Copilot zet Vlaamse overheid deur open voor datalekken Sommige overheidsinstanties gebruiken de AI-tool zonder de nodige risicoanalyse.

New reporting by Jan Walraven sheds light on how the Flemish government is rolling out Microsoft Copilot across public administration: deployment moves faster than safeguards. Part of our joint project with @apache.be “Buying the Hype”. Read more in Dutch: apache.be/2026/04/07/m...

Open Future March 2026 Newsletter

📬 Our March newsletter covers a couple of the building blocks of EU digital sovereignty, a levy proposal from a major AI company, and what a genuinely public social media ecosystem could look like. Read more and subscribe: mailchi.mp/openfuture/b...

CommonsDB surpasses 1 million declarations Since launching the CommonsDB Explorer late last year and moving the prototype registry into active testing, we have focused on scaling up the volume of registry declarations. The registry has now…

🚀 Building trust in the digital commons with @europeana.bsky.social and @wikimediase.bsky.social, CommonsDB has reached 1 million verified rights declarations and counting: www.commonsdb.org/blog/commons...

Policy Building Blocks for Digital Commons – Open Future Digital sovereignty—the ability of states, organizations, and individuals to shape and control their digital environments—has become a central concern for the European Union. Achieving it requires mor...

This is the third brief in our Policy Building Blocks for Digital Commons series. openfuture.eu/policy-build...

Sovereign data commons and public data infrastructure - Policy brief cover with Open Future branded image background

Our latest brief, authored by @paul.eurosky.social and @aditya.myatproto.social, proposes dedicated public storage infrastructure, governed as a commons, as the missing layer in Europe's data sovereignty agenda. openfuture.eu/publication/...

CommonsDB hit 1 million declarations.

🎉 CommonsDB just hit 1 million declarations. Thanks to @europeana.bsky.social and @wikimediase.bsky.social for making it happen. Next stop: 5 million by summer 2026. Read more: www.commonsdb.org/blog/commons...

Public Procurement as a Strategic Lever for Digital Sovereignty – Open Future Public bodies are among Europe’s largest buyers of digital technology. This policy brief argues they should use that power to advance digital sovereignty, and explains how.

The forthcoming revision of the Public Procurement Directives and the Cloud and AI Development Act presents a legislative window to shift public money away from proprietary technologies toward Digital Commons. This brief makes the case for using it. openfuture.eu/publication/...

Important brief to add guidelines/rules to the existing discussions about digital sovereignty/digital public infrastructure. We need to make sure that discussions on procurements do not lead to "Europe first" data exploitative business models or to create European tech-oligarchies.

Public Procurement as a Strategic Lever For Digital Sovereignty Cover with Open Future image background.

Our latest policy brief, authored by @aditya.myatproto.social and Zuzanna Warso, argues that procurement can be more than a purchasing mechanism. Used strategically, it is one of the most powerful tools available for shaping markets and advancing digital sovereignty. openfuture.eu/publication/...

Is social media the new public square? Then what is the role for public funding in keeping it resilient, safe, (maybe even fun)? 1/3👇

Public Money, Public Platforms? Blog post image in Open Future colors depicting public digital infrastructure.

A European Citizens' Initiative calls for publicly funded social media. But copying the old centralized, surveillance-based model would repeat harms. Public money deserves a more ambitious target: Digital Public Space. @aditya.myatproto.social explains what that means. openfuture.eu/blog/public-...

Cloud Infrastructure as a Foundation for Digital Sovereignty Cover with Open Future image background

Europe’s cloud dependency is a strategic risk. Our new brief, authored by Zuzanna Warso and @aditya.myatproto.social, outlines how to cut lock-in and use public procurement to back sovereign, interoperable cloud alternatives.
Read more: openfuture.eu/publication/...

Why Digital Public Infrastructures? Infrastructural promises in India, Brazil, and Europe.

"The question of why DPI is ultimately the question of for whom DPI." Watch the recording of our webinar on digital public infrastructure with @bulletprooflama.bsky.social and @ramyachandra.bsky.social 📹️ openfuture.eu/event/webina...

It's a wrap 🌯
Yesterday, the EP adopted its resolution on the upcoming ERA Act, sending a clear message that Europe is ready for a true "fifth freedom".

Now the ball is in the Commission's court to come up with an ambitious proposal that unlocks knowledge in Europe!

Webinar on Digital Public Infrastructure: Promises and the Missing Public Role – Open Future Online discussion featuring our research fellow, Mila T Samdub, who examines digital public infrastructures in India, Brazil, and the EU, analyzing seven key promises and revealing a critical gap.

Who is digital public infrastructure built for? Watch our webinar on DPI in India, Brazil, and the EU, and why the answer matters more than the technology itself. openfuture.eu/event/webina...

The EP has adopted its own initiative report, accepting that AI training falls under TDM exceptions. Yet, voluntary licensing will not fix the power gap between AI developers and rightsholders. @paul.eurosky.social suggests a revenue-based levy on deployed AI openfuture.eu/blog/copyrig...

Tomorrow, the Netherlands celebrates #PubliekDomeinDag. We’ll be there: Doug McCarthy will present CommonsDB at 12:10, and @paul.eurosky.social will join a panel at 15:15 on public domain restrictions in the afternoon. publiekdomeindag.nl/programma-20...

What Delhi revealed about the challenge of AI sovereignty – Open Future Delhi AI Summit: The EU and India talk sovereignty but deepen reliance on US AI supply chains through new deals.

Both the EU and India want greater sovereignty over AI. Neither is close to having it. The Delhi AI Summit made that gap hard to ignore. Read Zuzanna Warso's latest: openfuture.eu/blog/what-de...

📬 Newsletter released: How funding shapes EU AI, Wikimedia's AI moment, and much more. Want this in your inbox? Read the full issue and subscribe to receive future ones: mailchi.mp/openfuture/s...

European Open Digital Ecosystems and Digital Commons – Open Future The EC's Open Digital Ecosystems Strategy shifts from viewing open source as licensing compliance to treating it as Digital Commons requiring sustained investment, community stewardship, and procureme...

🔓 The EU's Open Digital Ecosystems Strategy reframes digital sovereignty: open source isn't just licensing—it's about sustaining communities & Digital Commons. From procurement reform to ecosystem stewardship. Read @aditya.myatproto.social & @alek.bsky.social's latest: openfuture.eu/blog/europea...

Webinar on Digital Public Infrastructure: Promises and the Missing Public Role – Open Future Online discussion featuring our research fellow, Mila T Sambud, who examines digital public infrastructures in India, Brazil, and the EU, analyzing seven key promises and revealing a critical gap.

📅 Next week! Join our webinar on Digital Public Infrastructure—Feb 26, 11:00 CET. Exploring IndiaStack, Brazil's DPI & EuroStack with our Zuzanna Warso, our fellow Mila Samdub and rumya@mastodon.social from CNRS. openfuture.eu/event/webina...

CommonsDB Feasibility Study part 2: from Design to Deployment Key findings from building a prototype rights registry

Check out CommonsDB Feasibility Study part 2: 300K+ verified declarations, cryptographic signatures, and decentralized control. It shows how we're scaling trustworthy rights infrastructure for the open web. 📥 www.commonsdb.org/blog/commons...

Who Controls Europe’s AI Future? – Open Future Europe's AI Gigafactories bet raises hard questions about whether public investment can deliver strategic autonomy or will end up subsidizing the very dependencies it seeks to overcome.

Who Controls Europe’s AI Future? Our latest analysis by Zuzanna Warso examines how the EU’s infrastructure ambitions and plans for AI Gigafactories are unfolding.
openfuture.eu/blog/who-con...

Collective intelligence vs artificial intelligence – Open Future This report examines how generative AI is reshaping Wikipedia and explores the tension between collective intelligence and commercial platforms.

What is the role of collective intelligence in the age of AI? A new report from Wikimedia CH, Open Future and IMD Business School explores this and other questions, offering perspectives on strengthening the knowledge commons. openfuture.eu/publication/...

FOSDEM 2026 homepage

FOSDEM 2026: Our Senior Policy Analyst @aditya.myatproto.social speaks on governing Europe's digital commons. Today at 9:35 CET, Room UA2.118. Watch live: fosdem.org/2026/schedul...

What is a “European Alternative” to X? – Open Future European alternatives to Big Tech platforms must go beyond sovereignty—they need decentralized models, robust safety, and public funding.

European social media alternatives need more than EU hosting. They require decentralized architecture, robust safety mechanisms, public funding, and business models beyond surveillance. Read more in @aditya.myatproto.social latest: openfuture.eu/blog/what-is...

FOSDEM 2026 homepage

Join us at FOSDEM 2026 to discuss Europe's digital sovereignty & the DC-EDIC's role in supporting open source public infrastructure. 2 Feb, 9:35 CET | Room UA2.118 | Details and live streaming: fosdem.org/2026/schedul...