Europe has always punched above its weight in open source. From Linux and MySQL to Raspberry Pi and Arduino, the continent’s fingerprints are all over the software that powers today’s digital economy. Yet as the conversation shifts to AI, cloud, and sovereignty, a hard question emerges: can Europe turn that heritage into a strategic advantage—or will the value continue to flow elsewhere?

That question sits at the heart of the World of Open Source Europe Report, and few are better positioned to unpack it than Gabriele Columbro, General Manager of Linux Foundation Europe. In a recent conversation, Columbro described how open source has moved “from a technical consideration to a strategic lever for digital sovereignty.” The stakes, he argued, are no longer just about software adoption—they’re about Europe’s ability to define its digital independence and global competitiveness.

From Grassroots Strength to Strategic Leverage

Europe’s open source culture runs deep. Developers and contributors across the continent have long sustained a rich ecosystem, and today, Europe still ranks ahead of China and the U.S. in individual contributors. But despite this grassroots strength, Columbro pointed to a persistent gap between practitioners and executives. While 80% of employees surveyed recognize open source as strategically important, only about 60% of executives share that view.

That perception gap matters. Without C-suite commitment, enterprises struggle to translate contributions into corporate strategy. “There is a lack of strategic C-suite understanding of open source,” Columbro explained, adding that Europe’s largest industries—from finance to manufacturing—have been slower to invest in maintainers, projects, and foundations compared to their U.S. and Chinese counterparts.

The result is a paradox: Europe builds the innovation, but too often the commercial rewards accrue elsewhere.

The Commercialization Challenge

Columbro didn’t mince words when it came to commercialization. “55% of open source companies were created by Europeans, but 80% of the exits happened in the U.S.,” he said. Many founders still migrate across the Atlantic in search of venture funding and more attractive exit climates. That dynamic not only drains Europe of entrepreneurial energy but also undermines the virtuous cycle of reinvestment that powers ecosystems like Silicon Valley.

Europe’s fragmented funding environment plays a role. Compared to the U.S., European VCs invest less aggressively in open source businesses, and enterprises themselves often fail to provide sustained financial or labor contributions. Without scalable commercial ecosystems, innovation risks stagnating at the prototype stage.

Yet the opportunity is clear. As Columbro noted, open source already powers 80–95% of modern applications. By aligning investment, enterprise support, and executive awareness, Europe can transform its innovation pipeline into sustainable businesses that anchor value locally.

Balancing Regulation with Sovereignty

Europe’s regulatory culture often gets blamed for slowing innovation, but Columbro argued the continent should lean into its differences rather than mimic hyperscaler models. “Maybe Europe shouldn’t look at necessarily copying this hyperscaler model,” he suggested, “while having strong enough national-level alternatives that can serve their own markets.”

That doesn’t mean regulation is irrelevant. Initiatives like the EU Sovereign Tech Fund show how public investment can seed critical open source projects. But public capital alone is insufficient. “We need public-private partnerships,” Columbro emphasized, where governments fund early stages but enterprises sustain projects long term. Given the EU’s outsized role as both regulator and buyer, this collaboration will be crucial in ensuring Europe’s digital sovereignty isn’t just rhetoric.

Sovereignty also demands global engagement. While some voices call for region-specific forks of open source—European OSS, American OSS, Chinese OSS—Columbro warned against fragmentation. “Open source is one of the few remaining avenues for us to collaborate globally,” he said. The smarter path is to build commercial ecosystems on top of shared digital commons, ensuring European businesses capture value without isolating themselves.

Open Source at the Core of AI Competitiveness

The debate isn’t academic—AI makes the stakes tangible. Large language models are already becoming commoditized, with organizations from DeepSeek to OpenAI open-sourcing core models. The next frontier is agentic AI: the protocols, frameworks, and ecosystems that orchestrate how agents interact and deliver value.

Here, open source could be Europe’s only realistic path to competitiveness. “I frankly believe open source is the only way Europe can gain competitiveness in the AI space,” Columbro said. Building on global building blocks while contributing sweat equity and funding, Europe can shape agentic ecosystems without reinventing the wheel.

But timing matters. Enterprises that delay engagement risk vendor lock-in or failed deployments. As Columbro cautioned, “It’s time to engage right now, otherwise you’ll risk not only vendor lock-in, but simply to stay behind.”