FOSDEM remains the most important gathering of the global free and open source software community. Everyone is present, from the largest foundation-led projects to the smallest hobbyist project, for a crowded week-end with more than a thousand talks. Other open source events aggregated to the FOSDEM weekend to form the EU Open Source week, all in all resulting in a busy week for open source enthusiasts !

In 2026, OpenInfra staff were on the ground across FOSDEM devrooms, policy sessions, Birds of a Feather discussions, and community events, but also several of the ancillary events — listening, contributing, and helping connect the dots across ecosystems.

A Strong Signal from Europe

At both CHAOSSCon and the Open Source Policy Summit events, one theme stood out: a growing recognition that open source is a global commons. Conversations around sustainability, funding models, and public-sector adoption made it clear that, while policy environments are evolving, the most durable solutions are built through international collaboration, not fragmentation. 

OpenInfra’s perspective,  grounded in open governance, global participation, and production-grade infrastructure, was well aligned with the direction of the dialogue.

I personally participated in a panel discussion on this topic in the “Open Source and EU Policy” devroom: “Global Collaboration and Europe’s Digital Sovereignty Goals.”

Technical Engagement Across the Stack

FOSDEM’s devrooms were packed, as usual. Interest in virtualization, cloud infrastructure, and community governance continues to be high.

The OpenStack operator-focused BoF, hosted by Amy Marrich, filled the room, with active discussion around real-world challenges, shared solutions, and commitments to improve tooling and reporting. Participants voted to repeat the session next year, which is a strong signal of continued operator investment. We also used the opportunity to advocate for the Public Cloud SIG and OpenStack Ops discussions, reinforcing the importance of practitioner-led collaboration.

In parallel, Kata Containers community members connected throughout the weekend, from hallway conversations to a dedicated community dinner that brought together contributors from multiple continents, including former mentorship participants who are now active contributors in Europe. New technical conversations emerged around Rust-based Kata development and AI-focused use cases, with follow-up collaboration already underway.

Across meetings, OpenInfra staff facilitated introductions between community members exploring integration opportunities spanning Kata Containers, StarlingX, and emerging edge and device-focused projects. FOSDEM once again proved that progress often starts with the right hallway conversation.

Open Governance and Community Health

The Community devroom sessions reflected a mature ecosystem, with participants deeply thinking about sustainability, inclusivity, governance models, and the impact of AI on contribution workflows.

OpenInfra contributed directly to that conversation with Ildiko Vancsa’s session on “Downstream Mindset vs. Upstream Communities,” which resonated strongly with attendees and sparked continued dialogue beyond the room. (Check out Ildiko’s summary of her session here.) The appetite for thoughtful governance and practical collaboration models remains strong.

Visible, Accessible, and Engaged

Combined for the first time to reflect our ongoing and growing collaboration, the CNCF and OpenInfra booth saw steady traffic, including many long-time contributors and a notable number of newcomers asking how our foundations differ within the broader open source foundation landscape. These conversations matter. They are opportunities to articulate clearly who we are: a foundation focused on open source infrastructure software supporting critical workloads everywhere, governed openly, and built by global communities. (A special shout-out to OpenStack and Kata Community members who helped staff the booth, including JP Evrard, Markus Rudy, Damian Fajfer, Kara Pritchard, Artem Goncharov, and Kees Meijs. Thank you!)

Evenings were equally productive. The LF social gathering and smaller community meetups created space for substantive discussion without the rush of the conference schedule. These are the kind of conversations that deepen trust and accelerate collaboration.

Why FOSDEM Matters more than ever

I have been coming to and speaking at FOSDEM since 2005. It has evolved over time, but it is unique in that it brings together policy leaders, operators, upstream maintainers, security practitioners, and first-time contributors in one place. Every subcommunity of open source shows up.

For OpenInfra, that matters.

Europe’s engagement with open source infrastructure continues to grow. Key stakeholders are moving from talking about how open source could help increase regional digital sovereignty, to actually planning to do something about it. Policymakers are asking the right questions. Operators are sharing hard-won lessons. Contributors are exploring new workloads, including AI-driven systems and edge use cases.

Our role is to show up consistently, participate constructively, and help connect these conversations back to durable, open infrastructure communities.

FOSDEM 2026 reinforced that this work is relevant and accelerating.

We’re already looking ahead to next year.