The Sovereign Tech Fund is becoming permanent and an independent organization
By Powen Shiah
In News
The Sovereign Tech Fund’s mission is to strengthen and sustain fundamental open digital technologies in the public interest. We’re thrilled to announce that the STF will be established as an independent subsidiary of SPRIND, stabilizing and scaling our organization.
The STF was launched in 2022 by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action (BMWK) to make strategic investments in the open source ecosystem with a focus on security, technological diversity, and resilience.
We invest in open source digital infrastructure — in digital sovereignty
For the initial implementation phase, the STF was hosted by the Federal Agency for Disruptive Innovation (SPRIND), and now we’re ready to stand on our own two feet. As a separate entity, we can grow and act more independently. This underscores the significance of investment in the open source ecosystem and bolsters the STF's sustainability.
Spinning STF out as a separate organization comes after a successful first year, during which we pioneered several initiatives for strengthening the open source ecosystem. The STF team analyzed and evaluated hundreds of technologies, supporting over 40 critical technologies like Pendulum, Prossimo, logback, and the Yocto Project.
“We have identified a great need and that is why we want and need to scale up. As open source technologies are the foundation of almost all digital undertakings, both in the public and private sectors, securing and maintaining the digital infrastructure is in society's best interests.”
The open source ecosystem is the foundation for innovation, competition, and public digital infrastructure
Open source software components, frameworks, libraries and other tools that enable the efficient development of software are essential building blocks for digital innovation and can significantly accelerate software development, while also making it more open and participatory. This is important for economic competitiveness, as well as the long-term development of digital products and services in the public interest.
Long-term investment in open source digital infrastructure is an important foundation for innovation and cybersecurity.
“This takes public digital infrastructure seriously and is recognition of an important new mission in the public interest. It strengthens digital sovereignty, innovation, and competitiveness by investing in critical and essential software.”
As an independent subsidiary of SPRIND, STF can continue to develop and scale up as a successful mechanism for providing support for critical open source software. To increase the STF’s impact and sustainability, we're planning additional ideas in areas like fostering a new generation of open source developers and increasing diversity, complementing our financial investments in FOSS technology.
