The strategy focuses on four priorities. It is first calling for a transformation of public organisations, strengthening of digital skills and leveraging data exploitation to enhance the state’s efficiency. Its fourth priority emphasises on the preservation of digital sovereignty through investments in shared digital tools based on open-source software. By implementing these priorities, Dinum aims to make the government more efficient, streamlined, and digitally empowered, ultimately improving public services and policies.
When it comes to shared digital tools, the Dinum operates various digital products in France, including the State Interministerial Network (RIE), FranceConnect, Démarches Simplifiées, Tchap and the Interministerial Free Software Catalogue. The Dinum is now looking to further develop and unify their offer of shared digital tools to bring clarity to their users. It plans to become an operator of interministerial digital products, offering competitive and scalable alternatives for office tools and application programming interfaces. Dinum will collaborate closely with the French National Cybersecurity Agency (ANSSI) to ensure cybersecurity considerations are integrated into the development of cloud solutions tailored to the specific administration's needs. Furthermore, the Dinum's free software unit will provide support to the Interministerial Service Operator department, leveraging their expertise and experience in this field. This commitment also signifies that the Dinum will continue to promote the adoption and utilisation of open source technologies among other ministries.
One of the key objectives announced is to enhance cooperation with other governments to share proven open source software already used in other administrations. This strategy aims to benefit the broader European digital ecosystem in an effort towards reinforced digital sovereignty. And in fact, French IT departments in all sectors have been concerned about the rising prices of software offered by major predominantly American publishers. “The advantage of Open Source is that it can bring together a large number of actors around a common initiative,” emphasised Florian Delezenne.
Germany’s State Secretary for Digital Affairs, Markus Richter appeared in a video during the 1 June conference “also supported the idea” “Open Source is not the only way to create digital sovereignty, but it is the best way. Furthermore, if we remain at the national level, we will not succeed in creating a market for these solutions”.
This new strategy and its objective are already being prepared. In April, Bpifrance, the public investment bank, has selected consortiums for funding to develop collaborative workspaces. These initiatives involve a total of 18 companies and will receive €23 million in support. These efforts aim to offer a range of free and open-source tools for collaborative work, promoting digital sovereignty and providing attractive alternatives for public servants.
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