Name: Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026
Start: 2026-11-12T00:00:00+01:00
End: 2026-11-12T23:59:59+01:00

12 November, 2026

Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026

TownHall Europe | Brussels, Belgium

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 – Digital Commons and the Open Internet Stack for a Competitive Europe will take place on the 12th November 2026 in Brussels.

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 builds on the successful 2025 edition, which established Digital Commons as a key ingredient for achieving European Digital Sovereignty.

The 2026 Summit shifts from introduction to implementation of the Tech Sovereignty Package, making sure that the Digital Commons Communities are truly empowered, as promised in the EU Open Source Strategy. It is time to execute the NGI Commons Strategic Agenda to make sure Digital Commons really do play a key role in the new European Open Internet Stack.

Organised by the NGI Commons consortium in close collaboration with the European Commission, this Summit convenes policymakers, regulators, funders, and practitioners to make sure that the ambition of the Tech Sovereignty Package and the EU Open Source Strategy is met.

Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 - Register now!

Why the 2026 Summit matters?

The 2026 question is how we implement the Tech Sovereignty Package.

How will the EU Open Source Strategy be implemented and what will be the role of the Digital Commons?
Is the Tech Sovereignty Package sufficient to ensure Digital Commons sustainably constitute the backbone of the Open Internet Stack?
How can the DC-EDIC and the Digital Commoners community collaborate effectively?
How is the NGI Commons Strategic Agenda being operationalised?
How do we secure Digital Commons as key to European Digital Infrastructure?
What did NGI Commons achieve?

Summit Objectives

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 aims to:

Understand the Tech Sovereignty Package and its implications for Digital Commons
Support the ambition of the EU Open Source Strategy, and ensure closer collaboration of the European Commission and the Digital Commons
Identify pathways for deeper cooperation between the EDIC and the Digital Commoners
Analyse the technical integration of Digital Commons into the Open Internet Stack
Discuss the funding of the Digital Commons under the new Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF)
Present the results of the NGI Commons project, particularly NGI Commons Strategic Agenda

Who should attend

This Summit brings together stakeholders who can drive systemic change in Europe’s digital landscape:

Regional, national, and European Commission policymakers, regulators, legislators, and standardisation bodies;
Funders, foundations, and philanthropies;
Academics working on Digital Commons, sociology, philosophy, and emergent technology;
Open source practitioners and commoners aiming to scale their ecosystems.

Session Overview

1. Tech Sovereignty Package and the Digital Commons

Practical Implementation

Regional, national, and European Commission policymakers, regulators, legislators, and standardisation bodies;
Funders, foundations, and philanthropies;
Academics working on Digital Commons, sociology, philosophy, and emergent technology;
Open source practitioners and commoners aiming to scale their ecosystems.

2. Introducing the NGI Commons Strategic Agenda

From Roadmap to Implementation

Real-world operationalisation of Digital Commons at scale;
Governance, coordination, financing, and implementation challenges;
Suggestions for practical implementation.

3. DC-EDIC and the Commoners

Operationalisation and Ambition

Operationalising the DC-EDIC structure and governance;
Finding practical cooperation between the EDIC and Digital Commoners.

4. The Open Internet Stack: Measuring Practical Integration

Active role of Commons within the Open Internet Stack

Case studies of successful commons-led stack components;
Ongoing integration of open-source technologies into European infrastructure layers;
Long-term sustainability.

5. The Commoners & Funding Session: Securing the Future

Grounded in NGI Commons analysis and practitioner voices

Success and lessons of current funding models;
Recommendations for the FP10 MFF phase;
Sustainability for the new phase of Digital Commons funding.

What will you gain

Strategic Clarity

Understand the Tech Sovereignty Package, the EU Open Source Strategy, and its impact on the Digital Commons. Explore the NGI Commons Strategic Agenda, and its implementation in accelerating Europe’s digital sovereignty.

Policy & Funding Insights

Explore sustainable funding mechanisms, the Open Internet Stack, and the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF).

Practitioner Perspectives

Hear directly from open source practitioners, and Digital Commons advocates. Our recommendations are grounded in depth interviews, comprehensive domain analysis, and the results of the NGI Commons project.

Networking & Influence

Connect with peers shaping European digital policy. Bring your ideas and discover new policy concepts to influence your organisation, city, and country.

Agenda

THURSDAY · NOV 12, 2026

Agenda

Download the Agenda

08:30 – 09:00

Arrival & Registration

09:00 – 09:30

Welcome and Introduction

Dr Monique Calisti

CEO of Martel Innovate and President of Digital for Planet, NGI Commons Coordinator

OPENING REMARKS

Tech Sovereignty, Open Internet Stack, 2026 priorities

Benjamin Bögel

Member of the Cabinet of the European Commission Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy

09:30 – 10:45

SESSION 01

Tech Sovereignty Package and the Digital Commons

Regulatory Sufficiency and What More Is Needed

MODERATED BY

Dr Monique Calisti

CEO of Martel Innovate and President of Digital for Planet, NGI Commons Coordinator

PANELLISTS

Gemma Carolillo

European Commission

Enzo Ribagnac

CISPE

Zuzanna Warso

Open Future Foundation

Sebastiano Toffaletti

Digital SME Alliance

10:45 – 11:00

Coffee Break

11:00 – 12:15

SESSION 02

The Digital Commons Strategic Agenda

From Roadmap to Implementation – looking ahead to FP10

MODERATED BY

Paul Keller

Director of Policy at Open Future Foundation

PANELLISTS

Laszlo Igneczi

OpenForum Europe

Jan Penfrat

EDRi

Plixavra Vogiatzoglou

University of Amsterdam Institute for Information Law (IViR)

12:15 – 13:15

Lunch Break & Networking

13:15 – 13:30

KEYNOTE

From The Rulers to digital commons and public ownership

Dr Cecilia Rikap

Associate Professor in Economics at University College London

13:30 – 14:45

SESSION 03

DC-EDIC and the Commoners

Operationalisation, Cooperation and Ambition

MODERATED BY

Dr Valérian Guillier

Postdoctoral Researcher at CNRS

PANELLISTS

Laurent Rojey

Digital Commons EDIC

Emma Ghariani

DINUM

Renata Ávila Pinto

Open Knowledge Foundation

René Lührsen

Leuphana University

14:45 – 16:00

SESSION 04

The Open Internet Stack Landscape and Context

Digital Commons and the Open Internet Stack initiative

MODERATED BY

Arta Ertekin

Martel Innovate

PANELLISTS

Dr Monique Calisti (EURO-3C project)

Martel Innovate

Giovanni Rimassa (OIS-HUB project)

Martel Innovate

Nuria de Lama (INCLUDE project)

BDVA

Michiel Leenaars (RESTACK project)

NLnet

16:00 – 16:30

Coffee Break

16:30 – 17:45

SESSION 05

The Commoners & Funding Session: Securing the Future

MODERATED BY

Nicholas Gates

Senior Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe

PANELLISTS

Jorge Gasos

European Commission

Franziska Bormann

Sovereign Tech Agency

Jean-François De Hertogh

Open Source Collective

Arnaud Lesur

Consul Democracy

Rachel Foucard

TYPO3

17:45 – 18:00

Closing Remarks & Wrap-Up

Dr Monique Calisti

CEO of Martel Innovate and President of Digital for Planet, NGI Commons Coordinator

EC Statement

Thibaut Kleiner

Director for Future Networks at European Commission, DG Connect

18:00 onward

Networking Reception

Registration Information

Registration is free, but mandatory.

Please note that in-person attendance is limited. If you’re not allocated a seat, the entire event will be accessible online so you can follow along remotely.

Speakers

Thibaut Kleiner

European Commission

Thibaut Kleiner is the Director for Policy, Strategy and Outreach at DG Connect. He has worked since 2001 at the European Commission. The first ten years of his career in the Commission were spent in the area of competition policy (merger, antitrust and State aid). He was notably member of the cabinet of Neelie Kroes, Commissioner for Competition, in 2007-2010 and head of unit for State aid coordination in DG Competition. In September 2011, he moved to the digital policy area, as advisor of Vice-President Neelie Kroes, in charge of the Digital Agenda, and supervised Internet policies at large (Internet Governance, cybersecurity, cloud, data). From January 2014 to June 2016, he was head of unit in charge of network technologies (5G and Internet of Things) in DG Connect. From June 2016 to December 2019 he was the deputy head of cabinet of Commissioner Oettinger, in charge of Budget and Human Resources and he then came back to DG Connect to head the unit in charge of Research Strategy and Coordination. An economist by training, Thibaut holds a Master from HEC Paris and a PhD from the London School of Economics.

Benjamin Bögel

European Commission

Mr Benjamin Bögel is Head of Sector for Product Security and Certification Policy at the European Commission. Benjamin has studied economics and political science in Germany, France and Belgium. Thereafter, he has worked for seven years as personal advisor to a Member of the European Parliament. Since 2019 he is developing and overseeing the implementation of cybersecurity policy in the Unit for Cybersecurity Policy in the European Commission, where he is mostly dealing with the cybersecurity of critical infrastructures as well as with the security of hardware and software products.

Gemma Carolillo

European Commission

Gemma is Deputy Head of the Future Internet Unit at the European Commission, where she works on the Open Source policy and contributed to the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, as well as internet governance policies – including multistakeholder dialogue, .eu top level domain name regulatory framework, ICANN, internet security, resilience and openness. Previously, she contributed to several policy priorities of the EU Digital Single Market, in particular in the area of cybersecurity (policy and regulation). Gemma has an education background in business management, field where she holds a PhD.

Jorge Gasós

European Commission

Jorge Gasós is senior expert in the Future Internet Unit of the European Commission / DG Connect. He held previous positions in the areas of Cloud, Software and eCommerce of the ICT research programme. Jorge Gasós holds a PhD in Computer Science from the Polytechnic University of Madrid (Spain).

Dr Monique Calisti

Martel Innovate

Dr Monique Calisti is the CEO of Martel Innovate and the President of Digital for Planet. She is a passionate entrepreneur and ICT expert with consolidated experience in research and innovation funding, strategic consulting, communication and business development of sustainable innovative solutions across several industry segments. With extensive domain knowledge in Artificial Intelligence and Next Generation Internet, Monique is engaged in several projects focusing on definition and development of advanced, human-centric, and green digital technologies. Monique holds a Ph.D. in Artificial Intelligence (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology of Lausanne, Switzerland), and a Ph.D. in Telecommunications Engineering (University of Bologna, Italy).

Laszlo Igneczi

OpenForum Europe

Laszlo brings three decades of experience spanning EU institutions, national ministries and the private sector to OFE. His career has combined in-depth policy work, liaising with EU institutions and private actors, organisational leadership, and operational execution, always focusing on the next step in technology and crafting a regulatory response to harness the opportunities ahead.

Most recently, he served for ten years as Director of the BEREC Office, the EU Agency supporting the Body of European Regulators for Electronic Communications. In that role, he led the agency through a period of significant change, enabling BEREC to extend its focus from traditional telecoms regulation toward emerging challenges in the data economy, artificial intelligence, and the shift to from hardware-centric networks to cloud-based and software-defined systems.

Prior to that, he served at Hungary’s Permanent Representation to the EU and Hungary’s Ministry for Information and Communications and Ministry of Economy and Transport, coordinating legislative implementation and EU regulatory alignment. He represented Hungary in the Council Working Parties on information society and telecommunications, audiovisual media, postal services and space policy. Laszlo began his career in the private sector, spending over a decade in telecommunications during the period of market liberalisation and mass digitalisation.

Dr Giovanni Rimassa

Martel Innovate

Dr Giovanni Rimassa is Chief Innovation Officer at Martel, supporting business development, market positioning and commercialisation activities, as well as leading initiatives around Artificial Intelligence and Computing Continuum. Giovanni holds a Ph.D. in Information Engineering (Università di Parma, Italy), with a Thesis on Runtime Support for Distributed Multi-Agent Systems. He authored more than 50 peer-reviewed publications and participated in several research projects, spanning five EC Framework Programmes and such diverse topics as cloud-edge-IoT computing, intelligent business process management, semantic knowledge management, intelligent distributed systems, smart cities, digital enhanced learning. Open Source Software accompanied him during his 25 year professional path between academia and industry, from the multi-agent middleware beginning, over to an Eclipse-based iBPMS platform, to the current Martel offering for IoT and Smart Cities.

Laurent Rojey

Digital Commons EDIC

Laurent Rojey is Director of the Digital Commons EDIC, a European Digital Infrastructure Consortium established by Member States to support the development, deployment and long-term sustainability of digital commons across Europe. He brings nearly 25 years of experience in digital policy and transformation. Before joining the DC-EDIC, he served as Deputy Director General for Digital Affairs at France’s National Agency for Territorial Cohesion. His career has focused on European cooperation, open source and innovation, and the development of digital public services. At the DC-EDIC, he works to turn Europe’s ambitions for digital commons into shared operational capacity.

Emma Ghariani

DINUM

Emma Ghariani leads the Open Source and Digital Commons division at France’s Interministerial Directorate for Digital Affairs (DINUM) and teaches digital commons and public policy at Sciences Po. With over a decade of experience in entrepreneurship, digital inclusion, and tech policymaking, she has helped shape national strategies and scale sustainable, inclusive, and open digital infrastructures.

Emma is committed to strengthening our collective capacity to design, build, and maintain digital systems that are open, autonomous, and serve the public interest. At DINUM, she works to embed open source and digital commons into French digital policy, with a particular focus on the role of public institutions in empowering citizens.

Dr Cecilia Rikap

University College London

Dr Cecilia Rikap is an Associate Professor in Economics and the Head of Research at the University College London’s Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose. Cecilia’s work analyses corporate power and how knowledge extractivism leads to intellectual monopolisation. Her most recent research focuses on artificial intelligence, the cloud, Big Tech dominance, AI-driven geopolitical tensions, digital sovereignty and how digital dependence constrains development. She has published four books on these topics. The award winning book Capitalism, Power and Innovation: Intellectual Monopoly Capitalism Uncovered, The Digital Innovation Race co-authored the book, and her two most recent books, “Teoría de la Dependencia Digital. Soberanía y Desarrollo en el Capitalismo del Siglo XXI” and “The Rulers: Corporate Power in the Age of AI and the Cloud” both published in 2026.

Rachel Foucard

TYPO3 Association

Rachel Foucard is the Compliance Officer of the TYPO3 Association and CTO of the French digital agency W‑Seils. After serving for six years on the TYPO3 Association Board, she now focuses on regulatory and policy matters affecting open-source communities, including cybersecurity, digital sovereignty, public procurement, and the long-term sustainability of open-source ecosystems.

Enzo Ribagnac

CISPE

Enzo Ribagnac is a European digital policy expert specialising in open technologies, cloud infrastructure, and digital sovereignty. As Director for Policy and Governance at CISPE, he leads advocacy on cloud regulation, data governance, and the development of compliance and certification frameworks that support trustworthy, open, and sovereign digital infrastructures in Europe and beyond. Previously with the Eclipse Foundation, he developed international collaborations on open source and digital public goods, working closely with governments, industry, and civil society to advance interoperability, transparency, and responsible technology ecosystems. Enzo’s work focuses on empowering public and private stakeholders to adopt open, resilient, and future-proof digital commons.

Renata Ávila Pinto

Open Knowledge Foundation

Renata Ávila Pinto is an international human rights and technology lawyer specialising in data governance, open knowledge, and digital justice. As the CEO of the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN), she leads global efforts to unlock the power of open data and knowledge commons, enabling individuals and organisations to drive social change through transparent and equitable access to information, knowledge, data and technical tools. With deep expertise in intellectual property and international trade policies shaping the digital economy, she actively analyses the intersection of intellectual property, data-driven innovation, and fair technology access, advocating for policies that prevent monopolistic control and foster open technologies. A vocal critic of restrictive digital trade agreements, she works to ensure that data sovereignty and emerging technologies contribute to economic justice rather than deepen inequalities.

A former fellow at the Stanford Institute of Human-Centered Artificial Intelligence, she is affiliated with the Center for Internet and Society at CNRS, France. She serves on the boards of Open Future, the Center for the Advancement of Infrastructural Imagination, and Whistleblower Network Germany. She is a member of the Working Group on Data Governance at all levels, established by the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD).

Jan Penfrat

EDRi

Jan Penfrat is leading EDRi’s work on online platform regulation, open source software and digital self-determination. Before joining EDRi, he was a freelance technology reporter at the German IT magazine Golem.de where he covered internet regulation, IT security and open source software. He started his career as a policy consultant for the lobbying firm EUTOP and was a co-founder of the Privacy Training Center.

Paul Keller

Open Future Foundation

Paul is the Director of Policy at Open Future. He has 20+ years of experience as a media activist, open policy advocate and systems architect to improve access to knowledge and culture. A political scientist by training, Paul has a deep understanding of the digital transformation’s political, social and legal implications. Prior to founding Open Future Paul was co-director of Kennisland, an Amsterdam-based think-tank working on issues related to the knowledge economy. Before joining Kennisland in 2007, Paul worked at Waag as head of the Public Research program.

Paul is a research fellow at the Institute for Information Law of the University of Amsterdam, a board member of Public Spaces and sits on the advisory boards of the Glushko & Samuelson Information Law and Policy Lab and the Europeana Foundation.

Zuzanna Warso

Open Future Foundation

Zuzanna is the Director of Research at OpenFuture Foundation. She has fiftenn years of experience with human rights research and advocacy. In her work, she has focused on the intersection of science, technology, human rights and ethics. Zuzanna spent more than eight years with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights, a prominent human rights non-governmental organization in Poland, where she has gained experience in advocacy and policy work.

She holds a Ph.D. in International Law and an M.A. in English Studies from the University of Warsaw. She has been involved in national and international interdisciplinary research and innovation projects, exploring the ethics of new technologies and their impact on human rights and freedoms. Before joining Open Future, Zuzanna researched the ethical and human rights challenges posed by new and emerging technologies. Since 2019 she has been acting as an independent expert to the European Commission, where she is involved in the ethics monitoring of research and innovation projects.

Nicholas Gates

OpenForum Europe

Nicholas (‘Nick‘) Gates is a Senior Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe, where he coordinates OFE’s open technology research work, oversees the organisation’s international partnerships, and manages work on EU-funded projects related to open source software and open technology. Nick has significant experience in technology policy and research, particularly around digital government, digital public infrastructure, open technology, public financial management, and service delivery. Through prior work as a consultant and researcher, Nick has worked with numerous development partners, governments, and international organisations to deliver on their research, advocacy, and convening agendas, using applied research and evidence-gathering to support informed decision-making. Nick holds an undergraduate dual degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Political Science and History, and graduated with an MSc in Global Development from the University of Copenhagen in 2018. In his spare time, Nick is a film buff and enjoys cooking, hiking, and performing improv comedy.

Dr Valérian Guillier

CNRS

Valérian Guillier conducted his PhD research between 2015 and 2023 at the University of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, focusing on cultural commons. For this research, he held a doctoral contract from Labex Arts-H2H. Additionally, from 2020 to 2022, Valérian served as an ATER (Attaché temporaire d’enseignement et de recherche) at Aix-Marseille University, teaching courses on cultural mediation in the arts.

Throughout his PhD work, Valérian Guillier delved into the dynamics of cultural commons and knowledge commons, particularly investigating the influence of technological advancements on their modes of valorisation. His research expanded to encompass the concept of digital commons, exploring a broader understanding of digital resources and how they can serve communities, extending beyond the realm of open-source software.

Karolina Gyurovszka

Martel Innovate

Karolina Gyurovszka is a Zurich-based Senior Policy Expert with over 10 years of experience shaping European regulatory strategies, particularly in digital policy. As Policy Analyst & Consultant at Martel Innovate, she leads high-profile EU policy initiatives on Digital Commons, AI skills, and EU-Indo-Pacific digital partnerships while governing two sovereign expert advisory bodies. Her background in EU affairs and regulatory intelligence includes driving government relations and high-level lobbying strategies, monitoring political landscapes for major global tech firms, and leading legislative advocacy across Europe. She holds an M.A. in International Politics and completed coursework in International Affairs at Columbia University.

Michiel Leenaars

NLnet

Michiel Leenaars is director of Strategy at Nlnet: a Foundation, and chair of the Edsger Institute. He leads several international programmes on digital commons, such as NGI Zero Commons Fund, Restack, Rebase, GeoCommons.
In addition, Michiel Leenaars is active on the board of several organisations, such as the e-democracy initiative. Member of the strategic committee of the European registry EURId, Michiel is also a W3C liaison officer at W3C Benelux and coordinator of the national software engineering research at the Netherlands Research Council. Leenaars is an appointed member of the advisory board of the Digital Commons EDIC. In 2022 he received the NLUUG Award.

Nuria de Lama

BDVA

With more than two decades of experience in European innovation programmes and digital technologies, as well as having been part of the BDVA community from its inception, Nuria brings a huge expertise and strategic insight to the role at a crucial moment for Europe’s data-driven ecosystem.
Nuria de Lama holds a degree in Telecommunications Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and has dedicated her career to innovation initiatives, being part of numerous European Commission-funded projects. Over the course of her career, she has contributed to more than 50 projects spanning Digital Platforms, the Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data and Artificial Intelligence. Her cross-sector expertise includes work in many sectors.
Nuria spent nearly 17 years at Atos, a leading global IT services company, where she held several senior positions. She led a research unit specialising in Semantic Technologies, Software and Service Engineering, and later served as European Programmes Manager. In this role, she represented Atos in major European initiatives and coordinated the company’s strategy in European research projects.
Her leadership and contributions have been widely recognised across the European innovation ecosystem. Nuria has played a key role in initiatives such as NESSI (the European Technology Platform on Software and Services), the Future Internet Public-Private Partnership (notably the FIWARE programme, which led to the creation of the FIWARE Foundation), and the Big Data Value Association itself, where she was a founding member.
Previously to joining BDVA as Secretary General, she held the position of Consulting Director at IDC4EU, the European Government Consulting department of IDC (International Data Corporation), where Nuria has focused on advancing the data economy. She also continues to serve as an expert and advisor to numerous IT projects and institutions, including the European Commission.

Sebastiano Toffaletti

European DIGITAL SME Alliance

Sebastiano has authored several articles and position papers on topics such as Intellectual Property Rights, Standards, data economy and digital skills, and serves as an expert in EU working groups and task forces, where he brings forward the interests and views of SMEs. He is a member of the EU High Level Forum on ICT standardisation and of the D4SME steering committee at the OECD. He is currently Vice Chair (SME) at the European Cybersecurity Organisation and has led the creation of the label “Cybersecurity made in the EU” in support of SME cybersecurity providers. Since 2020, Sebastiano is also a Board member of EIF, the European Internet Forum.

Plixavra Vogiatzoglou

University of Amsterdam

Dr Plixavra Vogiatzoglou (she/her) is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Amsterdam Institute for Information Law (IViR). She holds a PhD from the KU Leuven Centre for IT & IP Law (CiTiP), where she remains a research fellow, and is a qualified lawyer in Greece. Her work critically assesses digital governance frameworks, including the concept of digital sovereignty, and the impact of emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence and quantum, on rights, freedoms, and society. She also teaches on topics of digital regulation, like artificial intelligence and data protection.

Franziska Bormann

Sovereign Tech Agency

Franziska Bormann is a Project Manager at the Sovereign Tech Agency, where she works at the intersection of digital sovereignty, open-source infrastructure and European cooperation. Her work focuses on the EU Sovereign Tech Fund pilot and collaboration with the Digital Commons EDIC.
For more than a decade, Franziska has worked with organisations and people across Europe and Africa, building partnerships and bringing together stakeholders from the public, private and civil society sectors to advance digital transformation and drive innovation. She enjoys working across cultures, countries and disciplines, connecting people and ideas, and exploring how technology can help address real-world challenges.

René Lührsen

Leuphana University

René Lührsen is a researcher and independent advisor on collaboration between the public sector and open digital systems. He is a Research Associate at the Chair of Digital Governance & Service Design at Helmut Schmidt University Hamburg and a Doctoral Researcher at Leuphana University Lüneburg. As an advisor, he works with public organisations, communities and companies on how to design and facilitate cooperation. His research covers digital commons and open-source infrastructure, public funding instruments and open social innovation programmes. Since 2023 he has studied the Sovereign Tech Agency, Germany’s federal funder of open-source infrastructure. His work centres on fostering dialogue, navigating tensions and developing new thought models for designing relationships between public institutions and open systems such as digital commons.

Arnaud Lesur

Consul Democracy

Arnaud works on fundraising and partnerships at the Consul Democracy Foundation, which maintains Consul Democracy, a free and open-source platform for digital participation used by hundreds of institutions worldwide.

He is interested in building the technical, organizational and financial infrastructure that allows digital public goods to thrive, and in exploring how the values of open source can shape the way we practice democracy in the world. Oh, and he wants a better Internet!

Jean-François De Hertogh

Open Source Collective

Jean-François De Hertogh is Co-director and Board Member of Open Source Europe and Executive Director of Open Collective Europe Foundation. His work focuses on helping open-source projects, digital commons and community-led initiatives access funding through fiscal hosting and cross-border philanthropy. He brings a practical perspective on getting resources to maintainers and informal collectives, providing the legal and administrative support they need, and sustaining their work beyond individual grants.

Arta Ertekin

Martel Innovate

Arta Ertekin is a Communication and Dissemination specialist at Martel Innovate. She brings a multidisciplinary background combining media, entrepreneurship and strategic communications. Before joining Martel, Arta worked as an entrepreneur and journalist, covering various sectors before specialising in the development of strategic content for a wide range of organisations and projects. Her cross-sector experience enables her to take a focused and versatile approach to presenting complex initiatives and running high-impact outreach campaigns. Arta holds a Master degree in journalism from the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and a Master in Performing Arts and Gender studies, obtained jointly from ULB and Stockholm University.

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About the Organisers

The Digital Commons Policy Summit 2026 is organised by the NGI Commons consortium in collaboration with the European Commission. NGI Commons prepares a long-term strategy for Digital Commons, critical for Europe’s Technological Sovereignty, making sure a more coherent funding is available to ensure sustainability of the Digital Commons.

Learn more about NGI Commons

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For questions about the event, please contact:
commons[at]ngi.eu or fill in our contact form.

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