The Missing Level: Why EU Open Source Fails Locally

<h2>Abstract</h2> <p>Europe has bold ambitions for open source and digital sovereignty, yet most initiatives struggle to deliver meaningful change where it matters: at the level of local institutions. Despite strong strategies and political commitments, implementation stalls because the policy frameworks guiding European digital transformation ignore a simple truth. Europe is built on a multi-level governance system where local actors carry the responsibility for execution but lack the incentives, support, and capacity to act.</p> <p>Drawing on hands-on experience from Denmark’s OS2 (<a href="https://os2.eu">os2.eu</a>) community, where more than 85% of municipalities jointly develop and maintain open source solutions, this talk examines why current EU-level open source policy risks failing in practice. It unpacks three systemic barriers:</p> <ol> <li><strong>Weak incentives at local level:</strong> Municipalities lack resources, competencies, and organisational maturity to prioritise open source adoption. Financial savings are not an effective incentive, because open source is not a budget trick; it requires long-term investment in capacity.</li> <li><strong>Multi-level governance creates structural friction:</strong> Authority is distributed across EU, national, and local levels. While this strengthens democracy, it fragments responsibility. National governments centralise; local authorities implement without adequate support; and EU ambitions rarely translate into actionable change.</li> <li><strong>Vendor dominance distorts procurement and advice:</strong> Large IT vendors shape decision-making, reinforce proprietary dependency, and overshadow sovereign alternatives. The barriers are governance- and leadership-related, not technical.</li> </ol> <p>The talk ends with practical policy recommendations: risk-bearing EU capital for local transitions, stronger alignment between EU-level commitments and local implementation realities, and a cultural shift where every new digital project must explicitly break with “doing things the way we always have”.</p> <h2>Speaker bio</h2> <p>Rasmus Frey is Chief Executive and Secretary at OS2 (<a href="https://os2.eu">os2.eu</a>), Denmark’s open-source community for public digital collaboration.</p> <p>He works at the intersection of governance, innovation, and technology, helping municipalities and public institutions co-develop and reuse digital solutions through open collaboration and shared ownership.</p> <p>Rasmus contributes to European networks on open-source governance and digital sovereignty, with a focus on institutional design and democratic digital infrastructure.</p>