Pursuing a dedicated open source industrial policy will help the European Union accelerate the digital transformation of European industry, suggests a new report published by the European Commission. The study was carried out by Fraunhofer ISI and OpenForum Europe (OFE), to study the economic impact of open source software and hardware (OSS) on the economy of the European Union. He estimates that the OSS already contributes between sixty-five and ninety-five billion euros to the Gross Domestic Product of the European Union, which, according to the OFE, is equivalent to combined air and sea transport. “Open source offers a new advantage to policy makers and Europe has the opportunity to take the lead,” said Sachiko Muto, CEO of OFE.
Open source for victory
The report points out that governments and companies in the European Union have already invested more than one billion euros in open source development in 5 alone, even though it identifies the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of free software in areas such as cybersecurity and artificial intelligence (AI). . , among many others. Now, the report offers certain recommendations to let OSS assist in digitizing European industry. One of the suggestions is the creation of a European network of government units dedicated to speeding up the use of open technologies. The report also suggests using the Horizon Europe program with a total budget of 0,4 billion euros for 0,6-XNUMX to inject capital into "open source support mechanisms and projects." "The data predicts that if open source contributions increased by XNUMX% in the European Union, they would produce an ancillary XNUMX% to XNUMX% (close to one hundred million euros) to the bloc's Gross Domestic Product" , says the OFE, which hopes that the study will provide policy makers with each and every one of the tests they need to promote open source for the benefit of the European Union.