The European Commission’s Communication on European Tech Sovereignty cites Eclipse SDV as an example of successful industrial open source collaboration. This recognition is an important milestone.

Published earlier this month, the European Commission’s Communication on European Tech Sovereignty has attracted significant media attention and sparked responses, many of them positive, from a wide range of organisations, thought leaders, and stakeholders across Europe’s technology ecosystem.  

Eclipse SDV mentioned as a model for industrial collaboration

We at Eclipse SDV are pleased to see the Eclipse SDV Working Group explicitly highlighted as an example of effective industrial collaboration in the automotive sector. In particular, Chapter 4.1, Promoting and Leveraging Open Source for EU Technological Sovereignty, notes that the Commission will actively

“support industrial collaboration platforms where competitors jointly develop open source building blocks [footnote 78] to create common software stacks and increase the overall efficiency of digital transformation, as demonstrated, among others, in the automotive [footnote 79], aviation, and railway [footnote 80] sectors”

The referenced footnote 79 reads as follows:

“The Eclipse Foundation supports industrial open source collaboration in the automotive sector through the Eclipse Software Defined Vehicle Working Group, which provides open governance, technical alignment and a shared development environment for automotive manufacturers, suppliers and technology providers working on software-defined vehicle building blocks.”

Notably, Eclipse SDV is the only automotive industry collaboration referenced in the publication. Its railway industry counterpart, the OpenRail Association, is also featured. This underscores the Commission’s recognition of vendor neutral open source collaboration as a strategic asset in advancing software-defined mobility and strengthening Europe’s technological sovereignty.

Open source recognised as a strategic driver

Overall, the present Communication marks a major step forward in acknowledging and championing open source and open collaboration as means of advancing digital autonomy: While, for example, the 2024 Draghi Report did devote an entire chapter to the European automotive industry, exploring its potential to close the competitive gap between Europe and emerging markets, it addressed open collaboration and open source only implicitly, mentioning the term “open source” no more than once throughout the report. 

Now, the focus appears to have shifted toward recognising open source collaboration not as an afterthought, but as a strategic driver of innovation and competitiveness across key industries.

The European Tech Sovereignty Package recognises that open source and open collaboration are essential building blocks of this effort. By fostering cross-sector collaboration, supporting the maintenance of critical open source infrastructure, and strengthening industrial ecosystems around shared technologies, the European Commission is taking an important step toward a more resilient and competitive digital Europe.

Turning vision into action: ECAVA

As a concrete step, the Commission has facilitated the creation of the European Connected and Autonomous Vehicle Alliance (ECAVA), which the Eclipse Foundation joined as a participant. The ECAVA is a lean, outcome-oriented industrial discussion and advisory forum with the goal of coordinating and accelerating technological investments in software-defined, AI-powered, connected, and autonomous vehicle technologies across the EU value chain. 

We are looking forward to seeing this vision turned into action.