Inno³’s contributions to the European Commission on the strategy for an open digital ecosystem

Inno³ took part in the European Commission’s consultation on an open digital ecosystem (Open Source Ecosystem), alongside many other actors of Open Source and the digital commons.

On 12 January 2026, the European Commission announced the launch of a consultation to gather contributions on the organisation and structuring of the Open Source ecosystem. The aim is to prepare the European Union’s strategy on digital sovereignty, taking free and open source software into account, and to strengthen the use, development and reuse of open digital resources.

For Open Source and digital commons stakeholders, the challenge was to coordinate in barely two weeks. More than 1,650 responses were submitted on the dedicated platform. Germany and France led participation (21% and 17% respectively). While the overwhelming majority of responses came from European citizens, companies represented 16.6% and non-governmental organisations 5.6%.

Participation of the French Open Source and digital commons ecosystem

You will find online numerous responses published by French public and private actors working for free and open source software and the digital commons in France: April, CNLL, Coop des Communs, Association TOSIT, DINUM, the French Network of Fablabs, IGN, and others.

Inno³ played an active part in this consultation, both in its own name and through contributions to the responses of members of its network: Open Source Experts, Numeum and Coop des Communs.

You will find below our response in our own name.

Inno³’s contribution to the European Commission’s consultation

This contribution draws on more than 15 years of practice within inno³, where every consulting engagement feeds a reflection on the sustainability of communities (and the projects connected with them) through a structured action-research approach. It complements the responses developed with Coop des Communs, Numeum, Open Source Experts and CNLL.

The European effort has for too long focused on technology and its place on the market (the “how”) at the expense of human and political ends (the “why”). The fundamental challenge is no longer to produce more code, but to restore user trust, ensure corporate autonomy, and guarantee state sovereignty. To do so, it is indeed necessary to turn to alternative development models that are more virtuous and more effective -​- Open Source first and foremost.

The priority areas are naturally those closest to users, so as to respond to real needs. In a context of geopolitical tensions, Open Source is a tool of strategic independence. For it to deliver, Europe must support its real economic fabric, made up largely of SMEs. Public procurement must be rethought -​- a fortiori by the European Commission itself (and a fortiori in study contracts, lest public action be coloured in ways that run counter to its own interests). The Commission must assert its role as regulator in the face of a market that is concentrating. Our liberal economy is no longer sufficient to guarantee progress; we need a Europe able to regulate the market while supporting the ecosystem mobilised -​- and in particular the new intermediary structures (such as CSI Piemonte in Italy, or TOSIT and Open Source Experts in France) intended to equip and structure the local Open Source sector.

In a “digital commons” approach, public actors must stop being mere consumers and become engaged partners of a heterogeneous community in order to ensure the social utility of projects. This vision, developed by Coop des Communs and through our work on the profitability of the commons, converges with the emergence of the European EDIC.

The public sector must also transform its support: funding contributors and the businesses that carry them according to their impact and sustainability (the AAC, NGI models, etc.) rather than purely on their fundraising capacity. Recent European texts (AI Act, CRA) reflect a laudable intent to protect community Open Source, but this intent remains fragile:

• CRA: applying a “physical product” regime to “non-rivalrous” digital goods, with limited support for actors (notably research).
• AI Act: beyond values, the success of European AI will depend on our ability to organise human collaboration around infrastructures and data (“AI in the public interest“, fiduciary structures (Data Trusts), etc.).

Our field research recommends four major lines of action:

• Institutional exemplarity: adoption of free software workstations by political bodies to send a strong market signal.
• Support for critical maintenance: studies and methods exist (see FOSSEPS) to identify and support the foundational, invisible and critical libraries.
• Removing regulatory barriers: in particular certifications favouring closed models over open solutions (such as the certification imposed for ERP solutions, which calls into question the significant use of tools like Dolibarr in France).
• Material sovereignty: linking Open Source to a comprehensive policy, including the organisation of access to Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs), within an inclusive and open approach.

Conclusion: technology must once again become a political commons. By valuing human engineering and the associated governance, Europe will turn regulation into a lever for sustainable strategic autonomy.