The Open Infrastructure Foundation (OpenInfra Foundation) has opened regional hubs in Europe and Asia to promote and protect open source communities and technologies in these regions where the OpenInfra community has rapidly expanded.

Thierry Carrez, general manager of the OpenInfra Foundation, shared the news in the opening keynote today at the OpenInfra Summit Vancouver, June 13-15. “The world has changed, and open source needs regional resiliency and action to ensure vital software technologies continue to be developed in the open,” he said. “Key regional issues have emerged, like digital sovereignty in the EU, that have created an opportunity for OpenInfra regional hubs to facilitate collaboration and discussion, coordinate responses, and give a voice to the concerns of the OpenInfra ecosystem.”

The OpenInfra Foundation is actively voicing concerns, including concerns over the current wording proposed in the EU Cyber Resilience Act with regard to open source software. It is an example of regional policies and regulations that could, whether inadvertently or intentionally, have a negative impact on open source infrastructure technologies.

Other examples include proposals on regulating open source’s role in artificial intelligence technologies, like ChatGPT. Although advocating for open source has always been central to the mission of the OpenInfra Foundation, establishing regional entities will lend legal standing for the OpenInfra community to participate in policy discussions and a stronger mechanism for leveraging the influence of participating organizations.

OpenInfra Asia (based in Singapore) and OpenInfra Europe (based in Belgium) share the same purpose and mission as the OpenInfra Foundation. In particular, these regional hubs allow participants to engage in focused collaboration and provide a basis for coalition between industry, academia and government. Participants in OpenInfra Asia and OpenInfra Europe will join together in:

• Advancing open source infrastructure in the region
• Discussing regional strategic issues
• Gathering regional feedback and elevating local voices
• Coordinating local communities and events
• Conducting regional business development and market research
• Providing local programs for nurturing the next generation of open source contributors

The Asia and Europe regions have experienced rapid growth in recent years and currently represent 32.5% and 38.8% of OpenInfra Foundation member organizations, respectively. Both regions have also seen rising challenges to open source and global collaboration.

The OpenInfra Foundation also announced that Okestro, the cloud software company in the Republic of Korea (South Korea), has elevated its commitment to the global community by becoming a Gold Member.