Sovereign Tech Agency

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Short description: German funder of open source software

The Sovereign Tech Agency is a subsidiary of the German Federal Agency for Breakthrough Innovation, commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action, aimed at providing financial support to open-source software. The initial funds were allocated by the Bundestag in May 2022.[1][2]

Purpose of funding

According to the federal budget of Germany plan, the program aims to promote and secure open-source foundational technologies.[3] It intends to make the open-source ecosystem more resilient against external attacks, thereby enhancing cybersecurity and resilience across the German economy. This initiative fulfills a demand from the coalition government.[4] This is also an approach to the classic free-rider problem faced by many open source projects.[5]

The funding is described as time-limited and targeted at specific challenges or security vulnerabilities.[6][7]

Scope and organization

In 2022, the program had a budget of 13 million euros,[8] which increased to approximately 22 million euros in 2023 and was expected to reach up to 16 million euros in 2024. The executive team consists of:

  • Adriana Groh (co-CEO), previously from the Open Knowledge Foundation's Prototype Fund[9]
  • Luisa von Beust (co-CEO), previously at several commercial organizations
  • Fiona Krakenbürger (CTO), previously worked at the Open Technology Fund[10][11]

Current programs

The Sovereign Tech Agency operates through several programs designed to strengthen the security and sustainability of digital infrastructure:

  • Sovereign Tech Fund: This program provides strategic investments in open-source software components deemed essential for economic competitiveness and innovation. It focuses on core digital infrastructure to achieve cross-sector scaling, specifically benefiting startups and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
  • Sovereign Tech Resilience: This initiative takes a proactive approach to protecting critical digital infrastructure. Beyond discovering and fixing existing vulnerabilities (including through bug bounty initiatives), the program aims to increase the long-term resilience of open infrastructure against future threats.
  • Sovereign Tech Fellowship: Through a "Maintainer-in-Residence" model, the agency provides financial support to individual experts and maintainers. The program aims to ensure the sustainability of the human labor behind critical codebases, which is often underfunded or unrecognized.
  • Sovereign Tech Challenge: Through a competition-based model, this program identifies structural challenges in the open-source ecosystem. It encourages the development of innovative solutions for emerging technologies and the securing of existing technological dependencies.

Supported projects

As of April 2025, the following projects received funding:[8][12]

Reception

In 2025, the Hans Böckler Foundation described the Sovereign Tech Agency in a study as an exemplary initiative for ensuring a sovereign digital infrastructure and attested to its effectiveness at levels ranging from concrete software development all the way up to the European digital infrastructure.[36]

A study commissioned by OpenForum Europe, Fraunhofer ISI, and the European University Institute[37] views the German Sovereign Tech Fund and its evolution into the Sovereign Tech Agency as a model for a significantly better-funded institution at the EU level and suggests that “... the establishment of the EU-STF should be modelled closely on the German STF – with only small differences in terms of points of emphasis and strategic positioning.”[38]

The F5 Alliance—comprising AlgorithmWatch, Gesellschaft für Freiheitsrechte, Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, Reporters Without Borders, and Wikimedia Germany—cites the Sovereign Tech Agency as one of the “good approaches” in the EU for reducing dependence on U.S. tech companies in particular, but also criticizes its insufficient funding.[39]

The European Commission views the Sovereign Tech Agency as a model organization for promoting open-source infrastructure. Its successful establishment and subsequent work are supported by a set of clearly defined best practices and have attracted interest both among EU member states and at the EU level itself. [40]

See also

References

  1. ↑ "51 Millionen Euro für Open Source und digitale Souveränität" (in de). 2022-05-20. https://www.embedded-software-engineering.de/51-millionen-euro-fuer-open-source-und-digitale-souveraenitaet-a-2f8988949f6a7611b1f01fa92ef8784a/. 
  2. ↑ "Germany to launch sovereign tech fund to secure digital infrastructure" (in en). https://sciencebusiness.net/news/cybersecurity/germany-launch-sovereign-tech-fund-secure-digital-infrastructure. 
  3. ↑ Bundeshaushaltsplan 2023, Einzelplan 09, Federal Budget Plan 2023, Single Plan 09, Chapter 09 01 – Title 685 03.
  4. ↑ "51 Millionen Euro für Open Source und digitale Souveränität". 2022-05-22. https://www.embedded-software-engineering.de/51-millionen-euro-fuer-open-source-und-digitale-souveraenitaet-a-2f8988949f6a7611b1f01fa92ef8784a/. 
  5. ↑ "Open-Source Software is in Crisis - IEEE Spectrum" (in en). https://spectrum.ieee.org/open-source-crisis. 
  6. ↑ Response from State Secretary Udo Philipp, October 26, 2022, to a written question from Member of Parliament Dr. Petra Sitte (THE LEFT), Parliamentary Paper 20/4209, p. 19., Bundestags-Drucksache 20/4209, S. 19.
  7. ↑ "The Open Source Way - Sovereign Tech Fund – Investing in the Future Today" (in en-US). 20 December 2023. https://podcast.opensap.info/open-source-way/2023/12/20/sovereign-tech-fund-investing-in-the-future-today/. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 Inga Pöting (2022-12-30). "Steuermillionen für Hobbyprojekte". Zeit Online GmbH. https://www.zeit.de/digital/internet/2022-12/open-source-software-sovereign-tech-fund-foerderung/komplettansicht. 
  9. ↑ "How to innovate? Prototype everything!". 19 December 2017. https://blog.okfn.org/2017/12/19/how-to-innovate-prototype-everything/. 
  10. ↑ "Sovereign Tech Fund" (in en). https://www.sprind.org/en/projects/sovereign-tech-fund. 
  11. ↑ "Episode 368 – The Sovereign Tech Fund with Fiona Krakenbürger" (in en). 2023-03-27. https://opensourcesecurity.io/2023/03/26/episode-368-the-sovereign-tech-fund-with-fiona-krakenburger/. 
  12. ↑ Niklas Dierking (2022-11-14). "Freie Software: Bund fördert Open Source". https://www.heise.de/news/Bund-foerdert-Open-Source-7324588.html. 
  13. ↑ "Arch Linux Package Management (ALPM) gets funding from Sovereign Tech Agency" (in en). 2024-12-10. https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2024/12/arch-linux-package-management-alpm-gets-funding-from-sovereign-tech-agency/. 
  14. ↑ "domain - About" (in en). https://nlnetlabs.nl/projects/domain/about/. 
  15. ↑ "Drupal Association secures $300,000 in funding from Sovereign Tech Fund" (in en). 2024-01-11. https://www.drupal.org/association/blog/drupal-association-secures-300000-in-funding-from-sovereign-tech-fund-1. 
  16. ↑ "Sovereign Tech Agency Investing €515k Into The Eclipse Foundation" (in en). https://www.phoronix.com/news/STA-Invests-In-Eclipse. 
  17. ↑ "Germany's Sovereign Tech Fund Now Supporting FFmpeg" (in en). https://www.phoronix.com/news/Germany-STF-For-FFmpeg. 
  18. ↑ "FFmpeg" (in en). https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/ffmpeg. 
  19. ↑ "Fortran" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/fortran. 
  20. ↑ "Sovereign Tech Fund to Invest €686,400 in FreeBSD Infrastructure Modernization" (in en). https://freebsdfoundation.org/blog/sovereign-tech-fund-to-invest-e686400-in-freebsd-infrastructure-modernization/. 
  21. ↑ "GNOME" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/gnome. 
  22. ↑ "GNOME Recognized as Public Interest Infrastructure – The GNOME Foundation" (in en-US). https://foundation.gnome.org/2023/11/09/gnome-recognized-as-public-interest-infrastructure/. 
  23. ↑ "For Drupal to Remain Well and Alive: An Exclusive Conversation with Tim Doyle". 2024-04-02. https://www.thedroptimes.com/interview/38423/drupal-remain-well-and-alive-exclusive-conversation-with-tim-doyle. 
  24. ↑ "KDE" (in en). https://www.sovereign.tech/tech/kde. 
  25. ↑ "OpenJS Foundation" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/openjs. 
  26. ↑ Foundation, OpenJS. "Sovereign Tech Fund" (in en). https://openjsf.org/sovereign-tech-fund. 
  27. ↑ "OpenJS Foundation Receives Major Government Investment from Sovereign Tech Fund for Web Security and Stability" (in en). https://www.linuxfoundation.org/press/openjs-foundation-receives-major-government-investment-from-sovereign-tech-fund-for-web-security-and-stability. 
  28. ↑ "OpenSSH" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/openssh. 
  29. ↑ "PHP" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/php. 
  30. ↑ "Sovereign Tech Fund Makes New Investments Into GNOME & PHP, Bug Bounty For systemd" (in en). https://www.phoronix.com/news/Sovereign-Tech-Fund-PHP-GNOME. 
  31. ↑ Gran, Sarah (2023-07-11). "$1.5M from Sovereign Tech Fund to Fuel Memory Safety". https://www.abetterinternet.org/post/1.5m-for-memory-safety/. 
  32. ↑ Tarakiyee, Tara (2024-05-22). "On Rust, Memory Safety, and Open Source Infrastructure" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/news/on-rust-memory-safety-open-source-infrastructure. 
  33. ↑ "Samba" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/samba. 
  34. ↑ "The Yocto Project" (in en). https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/tech/yocto. 
  35. ↑ Knight, Megan (2023-10-10). "Sovereign Tech Fund Boosts Yocto Project" (in en-US). https://www.yoctoproject.org/blog/2023/10/10/sovereign-tech-fund-boosts-yocto-project/. 
  36. ↑ Lührsen, René; Heimstädt, Maximilian; Gegenhuber, Thomas (October 2025). "Organizing Public Support for Open Digital Infrastructure - Hans-Böckler-Stiftung (FoFö)". https://www.boeckler.de/de/faust-detail.htm?produkt=HBS-009212. 
  37. ↑ Lawrence, Cate (2025-07-25). "Chronic underfunding of open source software poses strategic risk to Europe’s digital sovereignty" (in en-GB). https://tech.eu/2025/07/25/chronic-underfunding-of-open-source-software-poses-strategic-risk-to-europes-digital-sovereignty/. 
  38. ↑ Gates, Nicholas; Tridgell, Jennifer; Torraco, Rosa Maria; Schwäbe, Carsten; Reda, Felix; Hummler, Andreas; Streinz, Thomas; Nummelin Carlberg, Astor et al. (2025) (in en). Funding Europe’s Open Digital Infrastructure: The Study on the Economic, Legal, and Political Feasibility of an EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF) (Report). Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft. doi:10.24406/publica-4949. https://publica.fraunhofer.de/handle/publica/489961. 
  39. ↑ "Abhängigkeiten von Big-Tech endlich wirksam reduzieren" (in de). 2025-11-18. https://www.reporter-ohne-grenzen.de/artikel/pressemitteilungen/4140/abhangigkeiten-von-big-tech-endlich-wirksam-reduzieren. 
  40. ↑ Mucciacciaro, Teuta Toth. "Funding open source: case study on the Sovereign Tech Fund" (in en). https://interoperable-europe.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/document/funding-open-source-case-study-sovereign-tech-fund. 
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