The webinar focused on how open source software and open standards can help address cloud vendor lock-in and contribute to a more competitive and interoperable cloud ecosystem in Europe. The discussion reflected on the structural challenges created by dominant cloud providers, the risks of dependency for public administrations and companies, and the role that open technologies can play in restoring choice and market competition.

For more details revisit our event page here : https://europeanopensource.academy/events/breaking-cloud-lock-role-open-source-and-standards-creating-competitive-cloud-market

Panellists will consider how collaborative platforms support interoperability, reduce duplication, and enable long-term capability, and how these industry efforts align with the Commission’s Automotive Action Plan and broader transport innovation agenda. The discussion will address the regulatory and organisational conditions needed to sustain shared development, ensure safety and compliance, and support deployment at scale. It will also explore how insights from software-defined vehicle initiatives can inform open approaches across other strategic sectors.

Speakers: John Ellis (President & Head of Product, Codethink), Dr. Ing Sara Gallian (Senior Manager, SDV & Automotive Programs, Eclipse Foundation), Nicholas Gates (Senior Policy Advisor, OpenForum Europe), Christian Wege
(Manager Open Source Software, Mercedes-Benz Group AG) & Dr. Detlef Zerfowski (Vice President, ETAS)

Panellists will explore what happens when procurement is viewed through the lens of IT users and IT vendors rather than institutional boundaries, and how this perspective can help align incentives, avoid “open washing” and “sovereignty washing”, and build capacity across Europe’s digital economy. The discussion will also ask: what precisely is Europe’s strategic interest in procurement — and how can it be implemented coherently across sectors?

Speakers: Michał Kobosko (Member of the European Parliament (Renew Europe)), Pamela Krosta-Hartl (Managing Director, ZenDiS), Dominic Laurie
(Senior Director of Corporate Communications, SUSE), Jutta Horstmann
(Co-CEO, Heinlein Group), Sebastian Raible
(Director EU Government Affairs, APELL – The European Open Source Software Association) & Mario Campolargo (Invited Full Professor, University of Aveiro)

Panellists will discuss what is required to align regulation, procurement, and industrial policy to support European providers and users. They will also consider how openness can drive innovation while ensuring interoperability, trust, and strategic control in critical digital infrastructures.

Speakers: Paula Grzegorzewska (Senior Manager, Strategic Partnerships, Linux Foundation Europe), Alexandra Geese (Member of the European Parliament (Greens/EFA)), Thibaut Kleiner (Director, DG Connect, European Commission), Frank Karlitschek (CEO, NEXTCLOUD), Ritesh Paiboina
(Chief Technology Officer Open Telekom Cloud, T-Systems International) & Frank Feldmann (Chief Strategy Officer, SUSE)

Speakers: Arnau Monterde (Director of Participation and Innovation for Democracy, Barcelona City Council), Omar Mohsine (Open Source Coordinator, United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies (UN-ODET)) & Dr. Sachiko Muto (Chair, OpenForum Europe)

Panellists will discuss the role of Open Source Programme Offices (OSPOs) as engines of institutional learning, collaboration, and governance, and the potential for a EU policy to accelerate this transformation. Drawing on examples from critical sectors — including energy, transport, and public administration — the discussion will explore how organisational capacity can strengthen Europe’s digital resilience and enable openness at scale.

Speakers: Manuel Mateo Goyet (Acting Head of Unit CNECT.E.2, European Commission), Lucian Balea (Deputy Director of R&D and Open Source Director, RTE), Supriya Chitale
(Open Source Program Office Manager, IKEA Group), Johan Linåker
(Senior Researcher, Research Institutes of Sweden) & Max Mehl
(Open Source Governance & Strategy, Deutsche Bahn)

This session will examine how the European Union’s public sector plays a key role in linking open source within economic security policy, with a focus on the Interoperable Europe Act, the revision of the European Interoperability Framework and reinforced by forthcoming initiatives such as the EU Open Digital Ecosystems Strategy. The role of open standards will take a central role. Panellists will also consider how standards are developed and governed, and how open source can align industrial policy, standard-setting and public sector digital transformation across the Union.

Speakers: Dirk Schrödter (Head of the State Chancellery (CdS) and Minister of Digitalization of the State of Schleswig-Holstein), Leontina Sandu (Head of Unit, Interoperability and Digital Government (DIGIT.B.2), European Commission), André Rebentisch (Software project and programme manager), Liv Marte Nordhaug (CEO, Digital Public Goods Alliance) & Dr. Jochen Friedrich (Technical Relations Executive, IBM)

This is the global launch of Open Technology Research, a joint initiative of OpenForum Europe, the Open Source Initiative, and the Open Knowledge Foundation. The initiative will build a shared research agenda, strengthen the global research community, and translate rigorous, policy-relevant evidence into decision-making processes at European and international level.

Speakers: Deborah Bryant (Interim Executive Director, Open Source Initiative), Astor Nummelin Carlberg (Executive Director, OpenForum Europe) & Renata Ávila (CEO, Open Knowledge Foundation)

Panellists will discuss the role of initiatives such as the EU Sovereign Tech Fund, the impact of legislation including the DMA, AI Act, and CRA, and the importance of open governance, skills, and IT user capacity. Drawing comparisons with international strategies the discussion will explore whether Europe’s advantage lies in its developers, companies, foundations, or all of them together.

Speakers: Fabrizia Benini (Head of the Future Internet Unit, Directorate General for Communications Networks, Content and Technology, European Commission), Baddý Sonja Breider (Board Chair, Drupal), Deborah Bryant (Interim Executive Director, Open Source Initiative), James Lovegrove
(Director of Public Policy, EMEA & APAC, Red Hat), Daniel Stenberg
(President, European Open Source Academy) & Ruth Suehle
(President, Apache Software Foundation)

This opening discussion will explore how openness can underpin a European software policy that enables innovation, reduces dependency, and strengthens digital sovereignty. Bringing together policymakers, government leaders, and industry executives, the panel will consider how Europe can position its software ecosystem as a pillar of industrial strength and what frameworks are needed to make openness a defining element of European competitiveness.

Speakers: Aura Salla (Member of the European Parliament (EPP)), Shane Coughlan (Member of the General Assembly, OpenForum Europe), Andrea Gallo (CEO, RISC-V International), Daniel Glazman
(CTO Software, Thales), Amandine Le Pape (COO and Co-founder, Element) & Marc Palazon
(CEO, Smile Group)

…There could have been a world in which QRISK3 was pre-installed on every desktop in the NHS instead of Minesweeper…

NHSbuntu website on GitHub Pages REBORN! https://pacharanero.github.io/www.nhsbuntu.org/

Reveal.js slides from Digital Health Summer School 2017 at which I presented on NHSbuntu https://pacharanero.github.io/nhsbuntu-summerschool-2017/#/

NHoS Playing Nicely With NHS Apps https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XdR0lltkw7k

We even got them to give us an nhs.net email! nhsbuntu@nhs.net

NHSbuntu Identity Agent (GitHub fork) https://github.com/pacharanero/NHSbuntu-identity-agent

Brett Jackson’s YouTube video showing the NHS Identity Agent in action https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7F5ctGvH_Wg

NHSbuntu default settings repo https://github.com/pacharanero/nhsbuntu-default-settings

NHSbuntu Livebuild repo https://github.com/pacharanero/nhsbuntu-livebuild

Digital Health ‘NHS urged to consider Microsoft alternatives following cyber-attacks’ https://www.digitalhealth.net/2017/05/nhs-urged-consider-microsoft-alternatives-following-cyber-attacks/

El Reg 'weaponised’ https://www.theregister.com/2017/06/30/nhsbuntu_nhs_revolution/

El Reg ‘we quit’ https://www.theregister.com/2018/01/18/nhs_buntu_trademark_cease_and_desist/

OpenHealthHub YouTube channel with various NHSbuntu videos https://www.youtube.com/@openhealthhub1142

YouTube Videos from the Community
sneekylinux - May 2017 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbWcOEjRIK8

Digital Health WannaCry https://www.digitalhealth.net/2017/05/nhs-urged-consider-microsoft-alternatives-following-cyber-attacks/

Digital Health NHoS ‘We Quit’ https://www.digitalhealth.net/2018/01/nhos-project-ending-after-legal-challenge/

Our ‘Final Straw’ NHSbuntu post on OpenHealthHub https://openhealthhub.org/t/nhos-closedown-the-final-straw/1385

Gemini’s summary of the NHSbuntu project

The NHSbuntu and NHoS (National Health Operating System) project was a significant grassroots, volunteer-led effort that captured the imagination of many in the UK's health tech community.1 Its story is as much about its technical ambition as it is about the challenges of working with large public institutions.

The project was largely driven by a small team of core volunteers, who were also health professionals and technologists, giving them a unique perspective on the challenges they were trying to solve.2

Dr. Marcus Baw: A General Practitioner (GP) and technologist, he was a co-founder of the project.3 Dr. Baw was a prominent voice in the open-source community and a "clinical informatician." He played a crucial role in advocating for the project's goals and was often the public face of the team, blogging and speaking about their work.

Rob Dyke: Described as the project's "ISO-master" and a technologist, Dyke was instrumental in the technical development of the operating system itself.4 He was responsible for building the custom Ubuntu distributions (ISOs) and working on key features like smart card integration.

Community: The project's developers actively fostered a community on platforms like openhealthhub.org, encouraging contributions from other IT staff, clinicians, and enthusiasts within the NHS.

The NHSbuntu/NHoS project began in early 2017, spurred by the need for a more secure, cost-effective, and flexible alternative to the NHS's heavily Microsoft-reliant IT infrastructure.7 The WannaCry cyber-attack in May 2017, which severely disrupted NHS services, highlighted the vulnerabilities the project aimed to solve, giving it a surge of public attention and support.8

In January 2018, the project was officially shut down.15 The developers, led by Dr. Baw, cited the constant legal threats and a lack of high-level support from key NHS bodies like NHS Digital as the reason for closing the project.

They felt they were being "used as leverage" in internal discussions about a new enterprise-wide agreement with Microsoft, and that despite interest from "grass-roots" IT staff, the higher echelons were not interested in backing an open-source alternative.16

The project remains an important case study in the challenges of introducing grassroots open-source initiatives into a large, politically sensitive, and highly bureaucratic public sector organization