The Eclipse Foundation is paving the way for a thriving, data-driven economy. In our new positioning paper, Building a Future of Digital Sovereignty and Innovation at the Eclipse Foundation, we dive into the different ways we are making this vision a reality.
In today’s interconnected world, data has become one of the most valuable assets, driving innovation, economic growth, and societal advancement. However, as organisations and governments increasingly rely on data-driven solutions, concerns about digital sovereignty have come to the forefront. Ensuring that data remains under the control of its rightful owners—whether individuals, businesses, or public institutions—is essential for protecting privacy, fostering fair competition, and maintaining national and regional autonomy. Digital sovereignty is not about isolation but about creating frameworks that enable trusted, transparent, and fair data-sharing practices.
Open source is at the heart of digital sovereignty. By embracing open standards and community-driven development, open source software enables organisations to retain control over their data and infrastructure while avoiding vendor lock-in. The Eclipse Foundation, with its commitment to openness, transparency, neutrality, and collaboration, provides the ideal environment for developing technologies that uphold digital sovereignty. Through its open governance model, global ecosystem, and focus on industry-driven solutions, the foundation ensures that sovereign digital infrastructures are built on trustworthy, interoperable, and accessible technologies.
As the largest open source organisation based in Europe, the Eclipse Foundation is uniquely positioned to lead efforts in digital sovereignty. With its robust legal framework, extensive network of industry and academic partners, and its status as an ISO/IEC JTC 1 Publicly Available Specification (PAS) Submitter, the foundation bridges the gap between open source innovation and formal standardisation. The Eclipse Foundation is currently also in the process to become a liaison with CEN/CENELEC to participate in JTC25 (Data management, Dataspaces, Cloud and Edge) and contribute also to the EU transposition of technical standards. This makes it an ideal home for initiatives that require both technical excellence and regulatory alignment.
Additionally, the Eclipse Foundation has a proven track record in managing large-scale, industry-driven open source collaborations, from automotive (Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle) to regulatory compliance (Open Regulatory Compliance). Its ability to foster vendor-neutral ecosystems ensures that open source solutions for digital sovereignty are not controlled by a single company or entity but are truly open and accessible to all stakeholders.
The Eclipse Dataspaces Working Group (EDWG) is at the forefront of enabling digital sovereignty through open source. It is developing key open source software components and specifications that ensure interoperability and trust in data-sharing ecosystems. Initiatives such as the Eclipse Dataspace Protocol, the Eclipse Decentralised Claims Protocol, the Eclipse Conformity Assessment Policy and Credential Profile and the Eclipse Data Rights Profile provide the specification building blocks for sovereign data exchanges, ensuring that data remains under the control of its rightful owners while enabling seamless cross-organisational collaboration. They are all planned to be transposed into international and European technical standards and adopted by the diverse open source connectors and dataspace software modules in the ecosystem, spearheaded by the Eclipse Dataspace Components, as the most adopted piece of software for dataspaces up to date.
The EDWG is actively working on standardisation efforts that support the global adoption of interoperable dataspaces. By aligning with regulatory frameworks such as the EU Data Act and working closely with industry partners, the working group ensures that its specifications and tools are not only technically robust but also compliant with emerging policies governing data access, sharing, and portability.
Recognising that true digital sovereignty extends beyond data sharing protocols, the Eclipse Foundation has also launched the Eclipse Cloud Interest Group. This initiative focuses on fostering an open source ecosystem for cloud interoperability, ensuring that cloud services remain portable, federated, and accessible across different providers. By addressing key challenges such as multi-cloud managed services, cloud switching, and regulatory compliance, this group complements the EDWG’s efforts, creating a comprehensive open source framework for digital sovereignty.
Now is the time to shape the future of sovereign and interoperable data ecosystems. Whether you are an organisation looking to participate in dataspaces, a developer interested in contributing to open source projects, or a policymaker seeking to understand the technical foundations of digital sovereignty, the Eclipse Dataspaces Working Group and the Eclipse Cloud Interest Group offer unparalleled opportunities for collaboration. Join us in building the open, trusted, and sovereign digital infrastructure of tomorrow.
Download the full positioning paper Building a Future of Digital Sovereignty and Innovation at the Eclipse Foundation here.
