Sovereign Tech Agency: Investing in the infrastructure of the 21st century
We are securing open digital infrastructure as the foundation for a future-oriented economy and modern society
Digital sovereignty empowers us to shape our own future. This requires more than simply using digital technologies; we need to actively be part of building them - to be independent, secure, and competitive.
The foundation for this is open digital infrastructure. Much like roads and railways serve as physical infrastructure, invisible software components are the bedrock of our economy and society. Components like programming libraries, open standards, and developer tools are essential for innovation and competition.
Digital infrastructure emerges from an open source ecosystem that makes it possible to reuse, quickly distribute, and maintain digital technologies. Sustaining this ecosystem protects Germany's and Europe's digital sovereignty, capacity for innovation, and economic competitiveness today and in the future.
Sovereign Tech Fund
Strategic investments in the digital infrastructure of our economy and society
With the Sovereign Tech Fund, we invest globally in the open software components that underpin Germany's and Europe's competitiveness and ability to innovate. By targeting core digital infrastructure, our investments scale across many sectors and benefit a broad range of users. Improving the security, stability, and reusability of open software components directly enhances the productivity, competitive edge, and capacity for innovation of startups and small and medium-sized businesses.
Sovereign Tech Resilience
Bug bounty, prevention, and elimination of vulnerabilities in critical digital infrastructure
The Sovereign Tech Resilience program takes a holistic approach to protecting critical digital infrastructure. Severe vulnerabilities in open software components have far-reaching consequences, affecting millions of people and impacting software products of all kinds that make use of them. To mitigate these risks and prevent untold damage, it is not enough just to find and fix bugs. We need to take proactive measures to improve the resilience of open digital infrastructure in the face of undiscovered vulnerabilities.
Sovereign Tech Fellowship
Effective support for essential experts in the open source ecosystem
Our fellowship program supports key individuals and strengthens the open source ecosystem in a way that transcends individual technologies and industries. By focusing on the people behind the code, we highlight and provide recognition for the often invisible work that goes into our digital infrastructure. In this way, we are empowering more people to put their skills and experience toward making the open source ecosystem more resilient and sustainable for us all.
Sovereign Tech Standards
Interoperability in the open source ecosystem
Open standards determine how software interoperates, how data flows, and how secure and accessible our digital infrastructure is. Yet the open source maintainers who implement these standards are rarely part of the processes that produce them. Participating at IETF, W3C, and ISO takes time, expertise, and resources. The Sovereign Tech Standards network closes that gap by supporting open source maintainers' engagement in standards work, bringing implementation experience into the room where critical decisions about interoperability are made.
Sovereign Tech Challenge
New solutions for structural challenges in the open source ecosystem
The Sovereign Tech Challenge uses a competition model to identify challenges in the open source ecosystem and develop new and innovative solutions. Examples of potential objectives could include developing forward-looking solutions in open software components that are useful for emerging technologies, or securing existing dependencies.
Latest news
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UN Open Source Week
Read article: Maintain-a-thon 2.0 at UN Open Source Week 2026
For the second year, the Sovereign Tech Agency and the United Nations Office for Digital and Emerging Technologies are convening open source maintainers in New York for a maintain-a-thon: bringing together the experts building and maintaining critical digital infrastructure.
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UN Open Source Week
Read article: Our maintainer delegation for UN Open Source Week
Nine open source experts are joining the Sovereign Tech Agency at UN Open Source Week 2026 in New York. They maintain some of the world's most widely used open technologies, and they're bringing practitioner perspectives to an international forum on sustaining and securing open source infrastructure.
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News
Read article: Newsletter: New partnership with DIN, insights from our survey, new fellows & hiring
Email newsletter on 8 June 2026: New partnership with DIN, insights from our survey, new fellows & hiring
Publications
Bug Bounties and FOSS: Opportunities, Risks, and a Path Forward
Bug bounty programs have long been used by industry to help incentivize reporting of dangerous vulnerabilities in software, but how effective are they in making our open source critical infrastructure safer? This is the question the Sovereign Tech Resilience program commissioned Northeastern University's Dr. Ryan Ellis to answer in his research.
A Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding on Open Source Software Development
To better understand how to assess outcomes of public investment, we co-authored a new paper with NGI Commons, CHAOSS, and the Linux Foundation: A Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding on Open Source Software Development. This toolkit offers not only a structured methodology, but also discussion of key considerations and best practices for evaluating public funding’s effects on FOSS.
Feasibility Study
On the consideration of a support program for open digital enabling technologies as a basis for innovation and digital sovereignty
Pilot Phase Report
Insights from validating the approaches outlined in the Sovereign Tech Fund's feasibility study.
