Investing in open source: a key to digital sovereignty and sustainability

Digital sovereignty is a growing priority for the European Union, aiming to reduce reliance on Big Tech and ensure that critical digital infrastructure remains under local or national control. Universities and data protection officers have long advocated for hosting data within Europe, yet a contradiction persists: While universities readily pay for closed-source software, they do not invest in open-source alternatives at the same scale. This undermines their own goals of data protection, transparency, and technological independence.