Digitale Souveränität mit Open Source – Aber richtig.

Digital Sovereignty with Open Source – But Done Right. by May 2, 2026 Digital sovereignty doesn't arise solely from the use of open source, but from genuine freedom of choice: the ability to decide, operate, modify, and switch independently. Using real-world infrastructure, firewall, and groupware examples, this presentation demonstrates how open-source solutions can be deployed successfully, economically, and with sovereignty in existing brownfield environments – and why transparency, proofs of concept, and honest expectation management are crucial. Open source is often perceived as a quick path to digital sovereignty. In practice, however, simply replacing proprietary systems with new tools is insufficient. True digital sovereignty means being able to consciously select technologies, operate them independently, adapt them, and switch to them as needed – without creating new dependencies. The presentation “Digital Sovereignty with Open Source – But Done Right.” shows why successful open-source implementations must be conceived primarily within existing infrastructures: brownfield, not greenfield. Those who, as a matter of principle, force new interfaces, new clients, and new ways of working on users and administrators risk resistance, shadow IT, and failed rollouts. Concrete, real-world comparisons from infrastructure, firewalls, and groupware demonstrate that European open-source solutions like Proxmox, OPNsense, or grommunio can be not only more sovereign but often also more economically attractive. The focus is on practical recipes for success: transparency, robust proofs of concept, no overselling, realistic feature budgets, and support from implementation to operation. Finally, the presentation turns its attention to the next major dependency: AI. Here, too, the question arises: how can digital sovereignty be maintained before new vendor lock-ins emerge? Slide: https://www.luga.de/static/LIT-2026/a...