At Europe's largest open source conference, ZenDiS presented its openDesk solution and discussed cross-government collaboration and digital sovereignty with European partners.
What a great weekend. Once again, FOSDEM 2025 drew thousands of developers, IT leads and open-source enthusiasts to Brussels, the annual meeting point for Europe’s open-source community. Over 800 talks and workshops offered a deep dive into emerging technologies, live use cases, and the shifting policy landscape, with the public sector taking a front-row seat. It goes without saying that we attended!
The ZenDiS team gave two talks at this year’s event, introducing openDesk to a wider audience: “Cross-border collaboration across digital workspaces” and “Building the EuroStack: openDesk and beyond”. Both sessions took place under the umbrella theme of “Open Source in European Legislation” and showcased how collaboration across borders can succeed through open standards and shared infrastructure.
A major highlight was the Government Collaboration Devroom, curated by the Centre for Digital Sovereignty (ZenDiS) in partnership with France’s DINUM and the Sovereign Cloud Stack. The room sparked lively discussion on open technologies for public administrations, with participants sharing practical insights, including experiences with La Suite Numérique. The strong turnout and diversity of topics made one thing clear: digital sovereignty and collaboration have become central pillars of Europe’s IT strategy.
The day before FOSDEM, ZenDiS also joined the EU Open Source Policy Summit, contributing to a panel discussion on the “Future of Public Sector Collaboration in Europe”. Experts from across the continent exchanged views on what’s next for digital cooperation in government.
The response at the ZenDiS booth spoke volumes: there’s growing demand for proven solutions that support digital sovereignty. Visitors were especially keen to hear how openDesk balances usability with security — a recurring theme in many conversations with international guests.
“People were surprised by how mature openDesk already is, and how flexible the use cases are,” said Alexander Smolianitski, Head of Product at ZenDiS. Feedback from the community offers valuable direction: accessibility and AI-assisted collaboration have now moved higher up the development roadmap.
FOSDEM 2025 underscored once again how vital European alignment is for sustainable digital public infrastructure. The next steps are already in motion, with joint workshops being planned with partners like DINUM and Sovereign Cloud Stack. Together, we’re working toward a sovereign, open and future-ready IT ecosystem for public administration in Europe.
Interested in openDesk and finding out how it can support your organisation’s digital sovereignty and collaborative efforts? Get in touch with us.
Following the initial release of openDesk 1.0 at the Smart Country Convention in September, we’re pleased to announce the launch of our first feature release, openDesk 1.1, packed with new functionalities!
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