The APELL Conference is the premier event for businesses to get together with industry leaders and innovators from the Open Source ecosystem to discuss the future of Open Source business!
Hosted by APELL, the European Open Source Business Association, the APELL Conference 2025 is the fourth edition of our annual event. After its successful predecessors in Strasbourg, Helsinki, and Berlin, this year it will take place in Warsaw, Poland.
The current situation in international relations and trade makes it clear: increasing technological sovereignty cannot wait. Only Open Source technology provides the freedoms to use, study, share, and improve, thus bringing back control over the technology we use, allowing insight and oversight. This event coincides with the Polish EU Presidency, offering an invaluable opportunity for high-level engagement with peers and thought leaders shaping Europe’s digital future.
Venue and timing
The APELL Conference takes place at Brain Embassy, Al. Jerozolimskie 181b.
For APELL Members, we start with the General Assembly at 10:00.
The public conference starts June 10, 10:45 CEST and ends 19:00 CEST. Please be on time.
Two good reasons to come to Warsaw!
The APELL Conference takes place on Tuesday 10 June from 11:00-19:00 CEST, on the day before the OpenForum Europe Capital Series Poland.
Together, both events will look at what the political level can do to realise the potential of European Open Source and to respond to the needs of Open Source businesses and thus the challenges Europe is facing.
Our Partner OFE is looking forward to your registration!
Spread the word
Please share the conference with your network, we would be very happy to get to know you and your network!
APELL on LinkedIn • 
@apell@eupolicy.social (Mastodon) • 
@apell.info (Bluesky)
#APELLconference2025 #APELLconf25
Holger Pfister (General Manager DACH, SUSE)
Digital Sovereignty - SUSE's perspective as global OpenSource Enterprise
Final Agenda
Please understand that the agenda may still change on the day of the conference.
| 10:00-10:45 | APELL Members only: APELL General Assembly | |
| --- public part --- | ||
| 10:45-11:00 | Welcome and registration | |
| 11:00-11:05 | Welcome to the conference Sebastian Raible (Director EU Government Affairs, APELL) |
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| 11:05-11:20 | APELL Presidency Keynote Cédric Ulmer (Co-President, APELL, CNLL) |
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| 11:20-11:45 | Sponsor Keynote Digital Sovereignty - SUSE's Perspective as Global OpenSource Enterprise Holger Pfister (General Manager DACH, SUSE)SUSE is seeing strong interest in sovereign solutions rising fast globally. Organizations are turning to us for help building them — and partners are coming to us to propose sovereign products we can take to market together. This is especially true in Europe. As the only European global enterprise open source infrastructure company, SUSE is already heavily involved in collaborating on European-based solutions, such as Gaia-X, Project Sylva, Linux Foundation Europe, and more. What are the reasons for the rising demand for sovereign solutions? Will this trend remain and what would be required from a European perspective to become more sovereign?
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| 11:45-12:05 | Keynote Sustainable Open Source: XWiki’s Paying Apps Model in Practice Ludovic Dubost (Founder and CEO, XWiki SAS)As the demand for robust, privacy-focused, and open-source collaboration tools grows, sustaining long-term development without compromising on openness remains a challenge. In this talk, Ludovic Dubost, founder of XWiki and CryptPad, presents how XWiki SAS has built a sustainable business model around 100% open-source software—without falling into the trap of open core or proprietary licensing. |
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| 12:05-12:10 | quick coffee break | |
| 12:10-12:40 | Keynote How to Build Sovereign Software for the Public Sector Leonhard Kugler (head of open-source platform - openCode, Zentrum für Digitale Souveränität (ZenDiS))The development of a sovereign digital infrastructure is essential for the provision of services of general interest in the 21st century. With openCode, we show how the security of software supply chains can be strengthened, how software can be reused and how the state's digital capacity to act can be ensured. Digitalisation opens up new opportunities for the state and society, but also brings with it dependencies and implementation problems - especially for public services. To remain digitally resilient, a sovereign, open-source and decentralised tech stack is needed for public administration. Digital sovereignty requires places that promote collaboration, reuse and cultural change - publicly funded, publicly usable. With openCode, there is a platform that shows how open source can succeed in public administration: from smart city projects and shared UX standards to sovereign office solutions. Applications are developed jointly, knowledge is shared and guidelines are updated transparently. A software directory supports subsequent use and security. This creates a transparent digital software supply chain in the long term - the basis for the government's ability to act. In 3 phases, the keynote shows how the platform is developing and what strategic steps are needed to set up the digital infrastructure for the future. |
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| 12:40-13:00 | Keynote From work-life balance to AI: what's important to open source professionals Elzbieta Godlewska (Business Development Executive, Linux Professional Institute (LPI))Free and open source software appeals to organizations and employees alike and is widely used in professional settings. Thus, an understanding of what motivates those who work with open source is important.The second Open Source Professionals Job Survey (OSPJS), from Linux Professional Institute (LPI) and Open Source JobHub (OSJH), asked respondents about their current job roles and level of experience and to rate the importance of 10 factors when choosing a job. The survey also asked about the potential impact that artificial intelligence (AI) may have on their careers. |
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| 13:00-13:05 | Overview afternoon, opening lunch | |
| 13:05-14:00 | lunch | |
| 14:00-14:20 | Keynote From European Commission’s NGI to Open Internet Stack: 7 years of funding Open Source Jean-Luc Dorel (Programme Officer, European Commission)In this intervention 7 years of funding Open Source will be reviewed and next steps will be identified. |
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| 14:20-14:25 | quick coffee break | |
| 14:25-14:45 | Keynote Flight lessons. Community-driven creation of the national LLM. Michał Domański (Chief of Staff at Omniviser, Founder of Bielik Consulting, Bielik.AI Ambassador)This talk will chart the unexpected rise of Bielik, Poland’s open-source large language model, from a modest dataset project into a thriving ecosystem with national impact. What began as a grassroots, pro bono initiative evolved into a major force shaping AI policy, infrastructure, and innovation in Poland — and increasingly, beyond. Michał Domański will unpack how Bielik grew into a collaborative movement: not just a model, but a community, a platform for social and commercial initiatives, and a lobby for open, secure AI. This story is a case study in how bottom-up innovation can redefine national strategy and global relevance. |
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| 14:45-15:05 | Keynote Poland's open source opportunity: avoiding fragmentation, embracing collaboration Paula Grzegorzewska, Strategic Partnerships Senior Manager, Linux Foundation EuropePoland has a unique opportunity to create and support a strong, collaborative open source ecosystem in the public sector. With its strong IT capabilities, dynamic digitalisation efforts, and potential for cooperation with European partners, the future of open source in the country looks very promising. Paula Grzegorzewska, born and raised in Poland, has been working on open source policy in Brussels for the past six years. In this talk, she will share her thoughts on the new Digitalisation Strategy for Poland 2035 in the context of other national frameworks and the European efforts to increase digital sovereignty and drive innovation. |
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| 15:05-15:10 | APELL Workshops introduction Cédric Ulmer (Co-President, APELL, CNLL) |
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| 15:10-16:25 | Working groups 1+2 | |
| Working Group 1: Strengthening and growing the Open Source industry in Europe
Ensuring investments, growth, and scale to meet new demand is crucial for the Open Source industry in Europe. How can we foster a sustainable ecosystem that attracts investments and ensures long-term growth? What are the key barriers to scaling, and how can we create an environment that supports Open Source companies in becoming global leaders? |
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| Working Group 2: Best national structure for Open Source businesses representation: top down or bottom up?
Historically, national clusters in EU have had different approaches, be it coming from regional organizations or from a national perspective. This working group aims at sharing local experiences, evolutions, and help companies that want to create such structure. |
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| 16:25-16:45 | Networking coffee break | |
| 16:45-18:00 | Working groups 3+4 | |
| Working Group 3: Ensuring sustainable funding from the EU, what works?
The EU and the nations it is composed of, have two ways of funding open source. Either that funded innovation projects, or via business contracts. The former can be exemplified with the NGI scheme, while the latter with the Open Desk or La suite approaches. This workshop aims at gathering feedback from members who have been involved in either funded projects or contracts with Open Desk or La suite, sharing what worked and what not. |
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| Working Group 4: Sharing best practices for generating substantial revenues from Open Source business models
The aim of this workshop is to gather practitioners who want to share what business models approaches worked (or not), be it as software makers or as consultants. Participants will be encouraged to contribute, and also to find potential collaborations between each other. |
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| 18:00-18:30 | Summary/Presentation of Working Groups | |
| 18:30-18:45 | Keynote Policy advocacy for open source businesses in the EU Astor Nummelin Carlberg (Executive Director, OpenForum Europe) |
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| ca. 18:45 | Concluding remarks | |
| 19:00 | End of the conference | |
