Sovereign Tech Agency: Investing in the infrastructure of the 21st century
We are securing open digital infrastructure as the foundation for a future-oriented economy and modern society
Digital sovereignty empowers us to shape our own future. This requires more than simply using digital technologies; we need to actively be part of building them - to be independent, secure, and competitive.
The foundation for this is open digital infrastructure. Much like roads and railways serve as physical infrastructure, invisible software components are the bedrock of our economy and society. Components like programming libraries, open standards, and developer tools are essential for innovation and competition.
Digital infrastructure emerges from an open source ecosystem that makes it possible to reuse, quickly distribute, and maintain digital technologies. Sustaining this ecosystem protects Germany's and Europe's digital sovereignty, capacity for innovation, and economic competitiveness today and in the future.
Sovereign Tech Fund
Strategic investments in the digital infrastructure of our economy and society
With the Sovereign Tech Fund, we invest globally in the open software components that underpin Germany's and Europe's competitiveness and ability to innovate. By targeting core digital infrastructure, our investments scale across many sectors and benefit a broad range of users. Improving the security, stability, and reusability of open software components directly enhances the productivity, competitive edge, and capacity for innovation of startups and small and medium-sized businesses.
Sovereign Tech Resilience
Bug bounty, prevention, and elimination of vulnerabilities in critical digital infrastructure
The Sovereign Tech Resilience program takes a holistic approach to protecting critical digital infrastructure. Severe vulnerabilities in open software components have far-reaching consequences, affecting millions of people and impacting software products of all kinds that make use of them. To mitigate these risks and prevent untold damage, it is not enough just to find and fix bugs. We need to take proactive measures to improve the resilience of open digital infrastructure in the face of undiscovered vulnerabilities.
Sovereign Tech Fellowship
Effective support for essential experts in the open source ecosystem
Our maintainer-in-residence fellowship program supports key individuals and strengthens the open source ecosystem in a way that transcends individual technologies and industries. By focusing on the people behind the code, we highlight and provide recognition for the often invisible work that goes into our digital infrastructure. In this way, we are empowering more people to put their skills and experience toward making the open source ecosystem more resilient and sustainable for us all.
Sovereign Tech Challenge
New solutions for structural challenges in the open source ecosystem
The Sovereign Tech Challenge uses a competition model to identify challenges in the open source ecosystem and develop new and innovative solutions. Examples of potential objectives could include developing forward-looking solutions in open software components that are useful for emerging technologies, or securing existing dependencies.
Latest news
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News
Read article: Meet Sovereign Tech Fellow Hugo van Kemenade
Hugo van Kemenade is a leading voice in the Python community. The projects he maintains are downloaded over 280 million times a month, including libraries used in NASA missions. In this interview, Hugo shows how his passion for contributions has developed into future-proofing the entire Python ecosystem.
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News
Read article: Newsletter: UN Open Source Week, Rosenpass Investment, Job Opening & more
Email newsletter on 03 July 2025: Sharing reflections from UN Open Source Week in June, where we convened a delegation of open source experts and emphasized the essential role of open technologies—and our shared responsibility to support them. Learn about our investment in Rosenpass, the recently disclosed OpenPGP.js vulnerability, a new job opportunity on our team, and the events we’ve hosted or attended over the past few weeks.
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News
Read article: Maintaining the Future at UN Open Source Week
In June 2025, the Sovereign Tech Agency took part in UN Open Source Week in New York City. We convened a delegation of open source experts to bring hands-on experience into global conversations around digital cooperation and public infrastructure. Across multiple sessions, we highlighted the essential role of open technologies and the responsibility that institutions share for supporting them.
Publications
Bug Bounties and FOSS: Opportunities, Risks, and a Path Forward
Bug bounty programs have long been used by industry to help incentivize reporting of dangerous vulnerabilities in software, but how effective are they in making our open source critical infrastructure safer? This is the question the Sovereign Tech Resilience program commissioned Northeastern University's Dr. Ryan Ellis to answer in his research.
A Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding on Open Source Software Development
To better understand how to assess outcomes of public investment, we co-authored a new paper with NGI Commons, CHAOSS, and the Linux Foundation: A Toolkit for Measuring the Impacts of Public Funding on Open Source Software Development. This toolkit offers not only a structured methodology, but also discussion of key considerations and best practices for evaluating public funding’s effects on FOSS.
Feasibility Study
On the consideration of a support program for open digital enabling technologies as a basis for innovation and digital sovereignty
Pilot Phase Report
Insights from validating the approaches outlined in the Sovereign Tech Fund's feasibility study.