Europe's open source push hampered by governance gaps
Wed, 14th Oct 2026 (Today)
The Linux Foundation has published its 2026 State of Open Source in Europe report, which says digital sovereignty is now a strategic priority for most European organisations.
Produced with LF Europe, LF Research and NeoNephos, the study found that 94% of organisations consider digital sovereignty important to their technology strategy, with 61% calling it very important. Security and privacy were the main reasons for that focus.
It also found that European organisations rely heavily on open source software while facing growing pressure from artificial intelligence adoption, governance shortfalls and regulatory demands. Nearly a third of respondents, 31%, said they still do not have a formal open source governance framework.
Those gaps appeared alongside strong perceived returns. Organisations with advanced open source governance reported an average return of more than four times their investment, compared with 3.6 times among those without formal governance structures.
Governance gap
The findings point to a divide between the widespread use of open source and the management structures needed to oversee it. European organisations seeking greater control over their technology supply chains need to move beyond using open source software and participate in the communities that develop and maintain it, the report said.
According to the research, European developers account for close to 40% of contributions to infrastructure projects such as Kubernetes and OpenStack. At the same time, many organisations appear to be keeping parts of their software work outside shared projects.
Almost half of respondents, 48%, said they maintain private forks of open source projects. Those organisations spend an average of 311 hours per release cycle patching 9.5 forks, while 28% said they cannot track those costs.
Regulatory pressure is also shaping investment decisions. Some 63% of organisations said they had increased spending on open source dependency management in response to compliance demands.
AI pressure
The study found that generative AI tools are now widely used across European organisations. A total of 94% said they are using or piloting generative AI coding tools.
Most respondents said those tools are increasing the value they get from open source software. The report found that 76% believe generative AI coding tools increase that value, while 48% said AI use has led them to increase their use of open source.
That shift is also creating pressure on the people and processes that support open source development. The report highlighted growing strain on maintainers as AI adoption gathers pace, adding to concerns about governance and compliance.
Open source involvement was also linked to workforce benefits. Some 76% of organisations said it improves engineering skills, while 53% said it helps with recruitment and retention.
Thierry Carrez, General Manager, Linux Foundation Europe, said the findings show that strategy and participation now need to move together.
"Europe has clearly heard the message on digital sovereignty. The next step is participation," said Carrez.
"Open source gives organizations a way to reduce dependence on any single vendor or geography, but consuming open source alone doesn't give you control over the technology. By contributing upstream and participating in open governance, European organizations earn a seat at the global table, making greater technology autonomy possible."
Policy backdrop
The report set the findings against a broader policy shift in Europe around technology control and infrastructure investment. It said the expected 2026 Tech Sovereignty Package could spur €2 billion in digital infrastructure investment.
Hilary Carter, Senior Vice President of Research at the Linux Foundation, said the latest edition of the study underscores the central role of open source in the region's technology sector.
"Five years of research confirms how critical open source is to Europe's tech landscape," said Carter.
"With the 2026 Tech Sovereignty Package expected to spur €2 billion in digital infrastructure investment, realizing that value requires more than adopting software-it demands strong governance and active community contribution."