In many engineering organisations, proprietary software is still commonly selected for critical digital infrastructure because it offers predictable procurement, defined support contracts, and short-term delivery certainty. While this approach can simplify initial implementation, it also shapes long-term control, maintenance, and dependency patterns that are not always examined in detail during architectural decision-making.
At the Open Community Experience 2026, Dr. Wolfgang Gehring, OSPO Lead and Ambassador for Open and Inner Source at Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation, will address this challenge in his session, “Digital Sovereignty with FOSS.” In an interview ahead of the conference, he frames digital sovereignty as an engineering concern:
“Digital sovereignty, when done right, is not about isolation, but about strategic independence and the ability to make autonomous decisions in the digital world.”
For development and architecture teams, the core issue is control. Even when software is sourced from European vendors and governed by European regulation, proprietary systems remain opaque.
“The source code itself still remains proprietary and opaque, so that means you still have to trust the vendor and you don’t have the ability to independently verify it.”
This lack of verifiability becomes critical when proprietary software underpins core platforms, build pipelines, or operational infrastructure. In such cases, vendor lock-in affects not only cost and flexibility, but also security response, adaptability, and long-term resilience.
Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) introduces a different operational and governance model for critical systems. Adopting FOSS does not remove the need for investment. It shifts where that investment occurs. Long-term sustainability depends on ongoing maintenance, structured governance, and active participation in upstream communities. A common failure mode is assuming that publishing or adopting open source software is sufficient to ensure its continued health, which can result in poorly maintained dependencies and accumulated technical debt.
The decision Wolfgang encourages organisations to revisit is how software is selected for critical infrastructure. Rather than defaulting to proprietary, off-the-shelf solutions, engineering and leadership teams should introduce explicit evaluation criteria for open source alternatives and assess the internal capabilities required to operate them responsibly. This includes the ability to maintain, adapt, and contribute to upstream projects over time.
As he summarises:
“The more FOSS solutions you have, use, and contribute to, the more digitally independent you become.”
At OCX 26 in Brussels, Wolfgang Gehring will explore the different aspects of sovereignty and touch upon the proposed European Sovereign Tech Fund as a way to prevent critical components of our software infrastructure from degrading and leaving entire industries exposed to systemic risk.
Attend his session at OCX 26 to see how this decision plays out in real systems and why it matters in 2026.
