Jan Karremans: Open source key areas for digital autonomy

How PostgreSQL is destined to make a difference at a European level Why And not just “Why”, but also how. How do you bring free and open source initiatives and something as regulated as the European Union? Both of these questions triggered me to accept the invitation to travel to Brussels and participate in this day of workshops. As part of a larger “tribute to open source” that is traditionally happening in this great city, with FOSDEM, a growing interest from the European Union is becoming apparent. After the keynote address that my CEO Hans-Jürgen Schönig gave at PGConf.EU, just 2 months ago, about digital longevity and the challenge of managing 80 years of critical data, just for one single individual, the necessity and the why were already clear. The additional elements of the “why” emerged throughout the day. Going back to the opening line of this post, there were practical examples of options around the how, and it is still as vague as this sounds. There are very distinct options to start addressing the how, but we are not there yet. With time, as in many areas, being of the essence, this also is an appeal to our industry as a whole to think about what Hans-Jürgen already thought about. As a strongly technically oriented company of PostgreSQL enthusiasts and fanatics, it might be strange to sit in with such academic dealings, but pushing your boundaries helps you to see things in a new light. General With 80 to 100 participants gathering in one of the 1,100 meeting rooms that the EU counts, the joint intelligence was only matched by the enthusiasm of the individuals. From the opening statements, the ever-present first goal for open source was clear; the EU needs to reduce their dependency on proprietary technologies. Especially for some of Europe’s most important industries, the automotive industry, this is of essential importance. Community-governed open-source is the key to the development of open-source solutions. The support for, and interest in open source is [...]