The authors of the paper Georg Hahn and Wilfred Jäger both have extensive experience of working with FOSS in public administrations. Mr. Jäger has many years’ experience as IT-Chief Operations Officer for the Austrian Federal Government (Bundesrechenzentrum GmbH) and Georg Hahn current general secretary for OSSBIG.
“As issues around digital sovereignty become more important it is vital that public administrations take a holistic and strategic approach to working with open source as the key enabler of digital sovereignty. We believe that the key recommendations in our paper provides for a structured approach in establishing such a strategy” says Mr. Jäger.
In their paper which can be found here (in German) the authors develop a framework for specific measures that public administrations can take in order to strengthen their digital indepence. Key findings include:
- Information technology, which is today a fundamental technology for public opinion building, collaboration and value creation, has grown out of the mere technical and into the political sphere.
- In a multipolar world digital sovereignty has become a strategic cornerstone for enterprises and states. Information technology therefore has to be adapted to these new needs.
Open Source collaboration provides an open, transparent and federated opportunity for states and companies to achieve economies of scale and remain flexible about their individual needs.
A coherent Open Source strategy is necessary for everyone to gain these promises of Open Source Software.