On July 9th and 10th, the NGI Commons consortium convened in Milan for a landmark General Assembly, reaffirming its commitment to advancing digital commons and setting the stage for a bold new chapter: From NGI to the Open Internet Stack (OIS), a critical initiative to power Europe’s digital sovereignty.
“As we move from the success of NGI toward the development of the Open Internet Stack, we are entering a bold new chapter—one that transforms innovation into structured, sovereign solutions for real-world impact. This is a pivotal moment for Europe to lead in building an open, inclusive, and trustworthy digital infrastructure.”
Dr. Monique Calisti, Coordinator of NGI Commons and CEO of Martel Innovate
Project Key Milestones – Day 1
The first day focused on consolidating progress and realigning goals across the consortium. Participants shared updates on partner activities and recent milestones, while taking stock of key achievements following the successful #NGIForum2025.
Key topics included:
Long-Term Legacy for the NGI Commons Project
Day two turned attention to the long-term legacy of NGI Commons. With the project now entering its second half, partners reflected on the core question: What will be left after the project ends? The conversation centered on sustainability, impact, and policy integration, especially as NGI Commons contributes directly to shaping the Open Internet Stack.
The OIS is poised to become a curated set of interoperable, open-source digital building blocks tailored for real-world deployment. It represents the next evolution of NGI’s vision: moving from bold experimentation to ready-to-use, sovereign solutions for public administrations, SMEs, and European citizens. This stack will embody the values of openness, interoperability, security, and trust, critical for enabling Europe’s digital autonomy.
As highlighted during the assembly, NGI Commons plays a foundational role in identifying, supporting, and connecting the projects and communities that will feed into this future stack.
From NGI to the Open Internet Stack: Powering Europe’s Digital Sovereignty
Since 2018, the NGI initiative has funded over 1,400 projects with more than €140 million, catalysing a vibrant open-source ecosystem—from privacy-focused applications to decentralised infrastructure. However, Europe now faces a pivotal transition: turning this momentum into scalable, policy-aligned digital solutions that rival and surpass proprietary offerings.
The Open Internet Stack will address this need by delivering easy-to-deploy, standards-compliant software components—ranging from secure identities and cybersecurity to digital services and Web 4.0 platforms.
“I count on the forthcoming OIS label to carry forward that the forthcoming Open Internet Stack label will carry the spirit of NGI. Just as NGI followed in the footsteps of the Collective awareness platforms for sustainability and social innovation (CAPS) programme in 2019, preserving the human-centric vision supported by the European Commission. From CAPS to NGI, and now to the Open Internet Stack, the commitment to digital commons, open source, and sustainability should remain a priority”
expressed Mélanie Dulong de Rosnay, Research Professor at CNRS Centre for Internet and Society.
These efforts will be supported by robust validation frameworks, plug-and-play architectures, and strategic initiatives like ETHOS EDIC, ensuring that open-source solutions are scalable, trusted, and tailored to Europe’s digital future.
Mark Your Calendar and Join Us at the NGI Policy Summit
As NGI Commons and its partners look toward the final project phase, a key milestone lies ahead: the NGI Policy Summit, taking place on 20 November 2025. This high-level event will serve as a platform to align policymakers, technologists, and civil society around the vision for the Open Internet Stack and the role of digital commons in building a resilient European internet.
We invite stakeholders from across Europe—public institutions, developers, SMEs, and community builders—to take part, share perspectives, and help shape the future of sovereign, open digital infrastructure.
Stay tuned for registration and agenda details.
