By Guest: Gabriele Columbro (LinkedIn)
Organization: Linux Foundation Europe
Show: The Source
Topic: Open Source
As governments and enterprises face growing pressure to secure their digital independence, open source has emerged as one of the most powerful tools for achieving true digital sovereignty. In this conversation, Gabriele Columbro, General Manager of Linux Foundation Europe, explains how open collaboration can help nations maintain control over their critical technologies without isolating themselves from global innovation.
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“Digital sovereignty is absolutely the most important reason why a nation state should look at open source,” says Columbro. “It allows countries to reduce dependencies on non-local or foreign service providers while still benefiting from global collaboration.”
He draws on his experience leading open source initiatives in the financial sector through FINOS and now at LF Europe, where he sees how both private and public institutions are using open source to strike a balance between independence and interoperability. For enterprises, the motivation is often commercial—reducing costs, gaining competitive advantages, and avoiding vendor lock-in. For governments, it’s about maintaining control over national infrastructure and ensuring long-term resilience.
Columbro points to examples such as the EU’s IPCEI (Important Projects of Common European Interest) and Eurostack initiatives, as well as recent statements from European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, emphasizing the need to prioritize European technology in critical systems. “Preferring European technologies is becoming a pillar of national security,” he notes. “That’s an understandable and strategic move.”
But Columbro warns against taking this too far. He argues that creating region-specific open source ecosystems—like “European Open Source” versus “US Open Source”—would fracture the very foundation that makes open source so powerful. “That’s a very short-sighted view,” he says. “It would break these beautiful digital commons. Open source is one of the few remaining avenues for us to collaborate globally.”
Instead, he proposes a hybrid vision: Europe should build a thriving commercial ecosystem on top of global open source projects, while ensuring those companies and value chains remain rooted in Europe. With better funding, stronger exit opportunities, and greater enterprise contributions, Columbro believes Europe could create “the next Red Hat or Databricks” — global open source leaders headquartered in Europe, reinforcing both sovereignty and competitiveness.
He sees open source as the connective tissue between innovation, governance, and sovereignty — a model where nations don’t have to choose between collaboration and control. By investing in open ecosystems and policy frameworks that encourage contribution rather than isolation, Europe can chart its own future while strengthening the global open source movement.
