Objective: Foster the development of missing services and strengthen the European digital ecosystem.

Primary Audience: Tech entrepreneurs, open source communities, research institutions, software cooperatives, and venture builders.

Resource Requirements: Technical talent, public and private R&D funding, open-source development capacity, infrastructure support, and standards organizations.

Key Activities:

• Identify key gaps in the European digital services landscape where no viable alternatives currently exist
• Support the creation of nonprofit and community-financed services for core public digital infrastructure
• Facilitate collaboration between public institutions and developer communities to build trusted, interoperable solutions
• Promote open-source development as a foundation for sovereignty, transparency, and inclusiveness
• Provide incubation, hosting, and operational support for new digital services
• Develop shared standards and interfaces to ensure compatibility and portability
• Strengthen digital security and resilience to enhance user trust and long-term reliability

Value Proposition: This pillar provides the practical, technological foundation of digital autonomy. While engagement and policy lay the cultural and institutional groundwork, innovation delivers the actual services that users will adopt. A thriving European digital ecosystem ensures not only competitiveness but the embodiment of values such as openness, diversity, and public accountability in the technologies we use daily.

It builds directly on the momentum created by public engagement and political frameworks, while laying the base for a more self-sustaining and interlinked ecosystem.

Back to the main text of the Initiative: European Digital Autonomy Initiative