European Open Source Awards 2026
The European Open Source Awards 2026 returns to Brussels to celebrate the extraordinary individuals and communities driving open source excellence across Europe. Building on the successful inaugural ceremony in 2025, this year's event brings together industry leaders, open source pioneers, advocates, and enthusiasts to honour those shaping Europe's digital transformation.
Importance for the IPCEI-CIS Community
For members of the IPCEI-CIS community, the European Open Source Awards represent a crucial convergence point. Open source technologies form the foundation of Europe's strategic autonomy in cloud infrastructure and digital services.
Why IPCEI-CIS stakeholders should engage:
- Strategic Alignment: Open source is fundamental to building sovereign, interoperable cloud infrastructure across Europe
- Collaborative Innovation: The Awards showcase best practices in open source development that directly support IPCEI-CIS goals of technological independence
- Ecosystem Building: Connect with the pioneers driving the open source technologies that underpin next-generation European cloud services
- Skills Development: Learn from education and community leaders who are cultivating the talent pool essential for IPCEI CIS success
- Competitive Advantage: Understanding open source leadership helps IPCEI CIS projects leverage collaborative innovation for European competitiveness
As Europe advances its digital decade objectives and strengthens open strategic autonomy, the synergy between open source excellence and IPCEI-CIS initiatives becomes increasingly vital. The Awards ceremony provides IPCEI-CIS community members with unique insights into the open source ecosystem that powers Europe's digital infrastructure ambitions.
2026 Awards Categories
This year celebrates more open source contributors than ever before:
The Prize for Excellence in Open Source Software – The European Open Source Prize recognises outstanding impact in open source software development, technical leadership, and sustained excellence over at least ten years.
Special Recognitions:
- Outstanding Achievement in Business and Impact – Honouring excellence in open source innovation, commercialisation, and impact
- Outstanding Achievement in Advocacy and Awareness – Honouring individuals advancing open source policy impact, recognition, and awareness
- Outstanding Achievement in Skills and Education – Honouring pioneers in educational projects advancing open source skills and knowledge
- Outstanding Achievement in Community Impact – Honouring communities embodying collaborative innovation and sustainability with demonstrable positive impact on the open source ecosystem
About the European Open Source Academy
The European Open Source Awards are organised by the European Open Source Academy, established through a European Commission-funded project led by a consortium including OpenForum Europe, RISE, TECNALIA, Barcelona Supercomputing Centre, Fraunhofer ISI, APELL, COMMpla, and Trust-IT Services. The Academy amplifies public recognition of open source software and hardware in Europe, fostering European interest and skills development across society.
Attendance
The European Open Source Awards is an invitation-only event, however the expressions of interest to attend is welcome. You can write to the organisers if you are interested in securing an invitation.