https://www.ow2.org/view/Events/The_European_Union_must_keep_funding_free_software_open_letter

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NGI.png

The European Union must keep funding free software / L'Union
Europeenne doit poursuivre le financement des logiciels libres

July 15 - January 01, 2025

Open Letter to the European Commission / Lettre Ouverte a la
Commission Europeenne


 

Open letter initially published in French by the petites singularites
association, translation by OW2 - with French original version below.
To sign it: please publish it on your web site (French, English or
both), then add yourself in this table.

The European Union must keep funding free software

Since 2020, Next Generation Internet (NGI) programmes, part of
European Commission's Horizon programme, fund free software in Europe
using a cascade funding mechanism (see for example NLnet's calls).
This year, according to the Horizon Europe working draft detailing
funding programmes for 2025, we notice that Next Generation Internet
is not mentioned any more as part of Cluster 4.

NGI programmes have shown their strength and importance to support
the European software infrastructure, as a generic funding instrument
to fund digital commons and ensure their long-term sustainability. We
find this transformation incomprehensible, moreover when NGI has
proven efficient and ecomomical to support free software as a whole,
from the smallest to the most established initiatives. This ecosystem
diversity backs the strength of European technological innovation,
and maintaining the NGI initiative to provide structural support to
software projects at the heart of worldwide innovation is key to
enforce the sovereignty of a European infrastructure.
Contrary to common perception, technical innovations often originate
from European rather than North American programming communities, and
are mostly initiated by small-scaled organizations.

Previous Cluster 4 allocated 27 millions euros to:

    "Human centric Internet aligned with values and principles
commonly shared in Europe" ;
    "A flourishing internet, based on common building blocks created
within NGI, that enables better control of our digital life" ;
    "A structured eco-system of talented contributors driving the
creation of new internet commons and the evolution of existing
internet commons" .

In the name of these challenges, more than 500 projects received NGI
funding in the first 5 years, backed by 18 organisations managing
these European funding consortia.

NGI contributes to a vast ecosystem, as most of its budget is
allocated to fund third parties by the means of open calls, to
structure commons that cover the whole Internet scope - from hardware
to application, operating systems, digital identities or data traffic
supervision. This third-party funding is not renewed in the current
program, leaving many projects short on resources for research and
innovation in Europe.

Moreover, NGI allows exchanges and collaborations across all the Euro
zone countries as well as "widening countries"1, currently both a
success and and an ongoing progress, likewise the Erasmus programme
before us. NGI also contributes to opening and supporting longer
relationships than strict project funding does. It encourages to
implement projects funded as pilots, backing collaboration,
identification and reuse of common elements across projects,
interoperability in identification systems and beyond, and setting up
development models that mix diverse scales and types of European
funding schemes.

While the USA, China or Russia deploy huge public and private
resources to develop software and infrastructure that massively
capture private consumer data, the EU can't afford this renunciation.
Free and open source software, as supported by NGI since 2020, is by
design the opposite of potential vectors for foreign interference. It
lets us keep our data local and favors a community-wide economy and
know-how, while allowing an international collaboration.
This is all the more essential in the current geopolitical context:
the challenge of technological sovereignty is central, and free
software allows to address it while acting for peace and sovereignty
in the digital world as a whole.

L'Union Europeenne doit poursuivre le financement des logiciels
libres

Depuis 2020, les programmes Next Generation Internet (NGI),
sous-branche du programme Horizon Europe de la Commission Europeenne
financent en cascade (via les appels de NLnet) le logiciel libre en
Europe. Cette annee, a la lecture du brouillon du Programme de
Travail de Horizon Europe detaillant les programmes de financement de
la commission europeenne pour 2025, nous nous apercevons que les
programmes Next Generation Internet ne sont plus mentionnes dans le
Cluster 4.

Les programmes NGI ont demontre leur force et leur importance dans le
soutien a l'infrastructure logicielle europeenne, formant un
instrument generique de financement des communs numeriques qui
doivent etre rendus accessibles dans la duree. Nous sommes dans
l'incomprehension face a cette transformation, d'autant plus que le
fonctionnement de NGI est efficace et economique puisqu'il soutient
l'ensemble des projets de logiciel libre des plus petites initiatives
aux mieux assises. La diversite de cet ecosysteme fait la grande
force de l'innovation technologique europeenne et le maintien de
l'initiative NGI pour former un soutien structurel a ces projets
logiciels, qui sont au coeur de l'innovation mondiale, permet de
garantir la souverainete d'une infrastructure europeenne.
Contrairement a la perception courante, les innovations techniques
sont issues des communautes de programmeurs europeens plutot que
nord-americains, et le plus souvent issues de structures de taille
reduite.

Le Cluster 4 allouait 27 millions d'euros au service de :

    << Human centric Internet aligned with values and principles
commonly shared in Europe >> ;
    << A flourishing internet, based on common building blocks created
within NGI, that enables better control of our digital life >> ;
    << A structured eco-system of talented contributors driving the
creation of new internet commons and the evolution of existing
internet common<< .

Au nom de ces enjeux, ce sont plus de 500 projets qui ont recu un
financement NGI0 dans les 5 premieres annees d'exercice, ainsi que
plus de 18 organisations collaborant a faire vivre ces consortia
europeens.

NGI contribue a un vaste ecosysteme puisque la plupart du budget est
devolue au financement de tierces parties par le biais des appels
ouverts (open calls). Ils structurent des communs qui recouvrent
l'ensemble de l'Internet, du materiel aux applications d'integration
verticale en passant par la virtualisation, les protocoles, les
systemes d'exploitation, les identites electroniques ou la
supervision du trafic de donnees. Ce financement des tierces parties
n'est pas renouvele dans le programme actuel, ce qui laissera de
nombreux projets sans ressources adequates pour la recherche et
l'innovation en Europe.

Par ailleurs, NGI permet des echanges et des collaborations a travers
tous les pays de la zone euro et aussi avec ceux des widening
countries1, ce qui est actuellement une reussite tout autant qu'un
progres en cours, comme le fut le programme Erasmus avant nous. NGI0
est aussi une initiative qui participe a l'ouverture et a l'entretien
de relation sur un temps plus long que les financements de projets.
NGI encourage egalement a l'implementation des projets finances par
le biais de pilotes, et soutient la collaboration au sein des
initiatives, ainsi que l'identification et la reutilisation
d'elements communs au travers des projets, l'interoperabilite
notamment des systemes d'identification, et la mise en place de
modeles de developpement integrant les autres sources de financements
aux differentes echelles en Europe.

Alors que les Etats-Unis d'Amerique, la Chine ou la Russie deploient
des moyens publics et prives colossaux pour developper des logiciels
et infrastructures captant massivement les donnees des consommateurs,
l'Union Europeenne ne peut pas se permettre ce renoncement. Les
logiciels libres et open source tels que soutenus par les projets NGI
depuis 2020 sont, par construction, a l'opposee des potentiels
vecteurs d'ingerence etrangere. Ils permettent de conserver
localement les donnees et de favoriser une economie et des
savoirs-faire a l'echelle communautaire, tout en permettant a la fois
une collaboration internationale. Ceci est d'autant plus
indispensable dans le contexte geopolitique que nous connaissons
actuellement. L'enjeu de la souverainete technologique y est
preponderant et le logiciel libre permet d'y repondre sans renier la
necessite d'oeuvrer pour la paix et la citoyennete dans l'ensemble du
monde numerique.

Dans ces perspectives, nous vous demandons urgemment de reclamer la
preservation du programme NGI dans le programme de financement 2025.

1 Tels que definis par Horizon Europe, les Etats Membres elargis sont
la Bulgarie, la Croatie, Chypre, la Republique Tcheque, l'Estonie, la
Grece, la Hongrie, la Lettonie, la Lituanie, Malte, la Pologne, le
Portugal, la Roumanie, la Slovaquie et la Slovenie. Les pays associes
elargies (sous conditions d'un accord d'association) l'Albanie,
l'Armenie, la Bosnie Herzegovine, les Iles Feroe, la Georgie, le
Kosovo, la Moldavie, le Montenegro, le Maroc, la Macedoine du Nord,
la Serbie, la Tunisie, la Turquie et l'Ukraine. Les regions elargies
d'outre-mer sont : la Guadeloupe, la Guyane Francaise, la Martinique,
La Reunion, Mayotte, Saint-Martin, Les Acores, Madere, les Iles
Canaries.
In this perpective, we urge you to claim for preserving the NGI
programme as part of the 2025 funding programme.

1 As defined by Horizon Europe, widening Member States are Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Greece, Hungary,
Latvia, Lituania, Malta, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia and
Slovenia. Widening associated countries (under condition of an
association agreement) include Albania, Armenia, Bosnia, Feroe
Islands, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldavia, Montenegro, Morocco, North
Macedonia, Serbia, Tunisia, Turkey and Ukraine. Widening overseas
regions are : Guadeloupe, French Guyana, Martinique, Reunion Island,
Mayotte, Saint-Martin, The Azores, Madeira, the Canary Islands.

         
          

         

  * ABOUT
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      + FAQ
  * PROJECTS
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      + OW2con website
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