The 2nd Annual European Open Source Awards, hosted by the European Open Source Academy , will honour a leading figure from Europe’s open source ecosystem with the Prize for Excellence in Open Source, as well as recognise other individuals from Europe’s open source ecosystem for their contributions to Europe’s digital sovereignty, cybersecurity, and competitiveness.
On 29 January 2026, Europe’s most influential open source innovators, engineers, industry leaders, and policymakers will gather at Bibliothèque Solvay in Brussels for the 2nd Annual European Open Source Awards.
The ceremony is designed to recognise the human stories behind Europe’s digital infrastructure – much of which is based on open source technology – including developers and community leaders whose work sustains everything from cloud computing and AI to healthcare, energy systems, and public services. The event aims to improve this public recognition by elevating them and highlighting their role in enabling Europe’s innovation capacities.
The European Open Source Awards is a key part of the EU Open Source Week, a week-long series of events that serves a key role in bringing EU policymakers, industry leaders, researchers, and the media together to recognise outstanding contributions to open source software, hardware, and open technologies.
Open source: the undervalued and underrecognised foundations of our digital world
Why is public recognition important? Open source technologies are the shared building blocks of our modern digital world. These software and hardware designs sit quietly inside the things people rely on every day, from smartphones and hospitals' platforms, banking systems, cloud computing, and scientific research.
Open source means anyone can freely inspect, improve, and use the source code of critical technologies. The open source model of software development shows how collaborative, iterative innovation can unlock tremendous capacities for building and deploying infrastructure, with potentially transformational benefits for the economy and society writ large.
Today, most websites, mobile apps, data centres and government IT systems in Europe run on open source software, even if it’s provisioned by commercial software suppliers. Open source software now underpins everything from healthcare and energy systems to AI and public administration. In practice, open source software code is transparent and reliable for builders of this digital infrastructure, improving security, making it more resilient to maintenance failures or attacks, and lowering costs across the economy.
Public recognition of open source as a strategic imperative
Daniel Stenberg, President of the European Open Source Academy, believes the goal of elevating open source and its importance is foundational: “These awards exist to give public recognition to the quiet builders of Europe’s digital world, whose work makes us more innovative, secure and technologically independent. Open source is the invisible backbone of Europe’s digital economy.”
As Europe invests huge resources in digital infrastructure, AI, and cybersecurity, this ‘invisible backbone’ is often neglected, both in terms of attention and public investment. Moreover, the hidden heroes and luminaries behind these systems are rarely recognised or celebrated for their enormous contributions and remain largely unknown outside their specialist communities.
The European Open Source Awards are changing this, celebrating the innovators behind open source technology, shining a spotlight on their impact, and inspiring the next generation of digital pioneers. By changing the narrative around what open source is, what it’s capable of, and why it’s important, the ceremony will persuade decision-makers across the continent that now is the right time to recognise its importance, support the people creating it, and invest in sustaining and securing it.
The 2026 Laureate of the Prize for Excellence in Open Source, as well as other honorees who will be bestowed special recognitions, will be revealed live at the 2nd Annual European Open Source Awards in Brussels on 29 January at 18:30 CET.
Event details
European Open Source Awards 2026 | awards.europeanopensource.academy
Date: 29 January 2026
Time: 17:30 CET
Venue: Bibliothèque Solvay, Leopoldpark, Brussels
Format: Reception, awards ceremony and networking dinner
Attendance: By invitation only, but expressions of interest for on-site press coverage are welcome.
