Policy Building Blocks for Digital Commons
Digital sovereignty—the ability of states, organizations, and individuals to shape and control their digital environments—has become a central concern for the European Union. Achieving it requires more than regulatory oversight of dominant technology providers. It requires fostering an ecosystem of meaningful alternatives.
Digital Commons, characterized by distributed production, collective governance, and shared stewardship, offer a viable path toward a resilient digital ecosystem. This framing moves beyond protectionism and regulatory simplification, and toward technological self-determination and democratic governance.
Building on Open Future’s work within the NGI Commons consortium, this series of policy briefs informs advocacy on Digital Commons and digital sovereignty in the context of the upcoming Multiannual Financial Framework (2028–2034) and ongoing public debate. Download the six policy briefs below:
Digital Commons can help move away from proprietary ecosystems that undermine sovereignty—but when they rely on hyperscaler infrastructure, they remain exposed to lock-in, extraterritorial surveillance, and geopolitical disruption. This brief proposes structural separation across the cloud stack, transparent pricing requirements, and regulatory safeguards against vendor lock-in to make real, commons-based alternatives viable.
A shift to Digital Commons needs demand-side support. Public procurement has long reinforced the dominance of closed technologies. By leveraging its purchasing power and norm-setting role, the public sector can instead drive adoption of open alternatives. This brief proposes a procurement framework that prioritizes open source, interoperability, and portability, and provides sustained support for the communities that maintain Digital Commons.
Coming soon (March 26)
The EU’s ambitions around data and AI assume that the institutions stewarding public data assets are sufficiently equipped to do so. Cultural heritage institutions, research organizations, and public administrations remain dependent on commercial infrastructure—undermining their ability to govern collectively produced data in line with public interest and sovereignty. This brief proposes a public data storage layer, grounded in commons-based governance, to provide durable infrastructure capable of powering alternatives to the dominant AI paradigm.
Coming soon (April 2)
Digital sovereignty requires alternatives to dominant social media platforms—a key arena for public discourse. The risk lies not only in non-European jurisdictional control, but in a surveillance-driven business model that amplifies misinformation, electoral interference, and harm to vulnerable communities. This brief proposes a public funding framework for interoperable, commons-based communication infrastructures that prioritize user agency and the integrity of public discourse over engagement and virality.
Coming soon (April 9)
The EU’s research and innovation funding favors market-driven, “disruptive”-short-cycle projects, leaving Digital Commons and critical open source infrastructure chronically underfunded. Promising initiatives struggle to grow beyond the pilot stage. This brief proposes reorienting Multiannual Financial Framework funding to support Digital Commons, fostering viable, scalable alternatives that strengthen digital sovereignty.
Coming soon (April 16)
The Digital Commons European Digital Infrastructure Consortium (EDIC) offers a flexible vehicle for Member States to collaborate in supporting Digital Commons. This brief proposes granting it the mandate and resources to steward shared digital infrastructure, channel support to critical open source projects, provide services that accelerate adoption, and build the expertise public bodies need to move procurement away from closed ecosystems.
Coming soon (April 23)
