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Mirko Boehm from Linux Foundation Europe Inspires NGI Sargasso First Open Call Innovators as a Host for Transatlantic Open Source Projects

NGI Sargasso open call one beneficiaries received an inspirational talk as part of their 9-month Capacity Building program to discover how Linux Foundation Europe works as a host for transatlantic cooperative community-based projects

The afternoon of the 19th of December 2023 the teams behind APSIDE, D3ICA, DDIP, EBSI-CAN, EvORAN, INTEROP4DID, SBAS and SNDS, NGI Sargasso innovators from our first open call, received a talk from Mirko Boehm, senior director for community development at Linux Foundation Europe, illustrating how they host cooperative projects across the Atlantic.

Why did the Linux Foundation land in Europe?

The Linux Foundations as the globally largest open source collaboration platform established its European chapter in September 2022 with the aim of acting as a catalyst for bringing European open source players closer into a global collaboration hosted at a local level.

Today, 31% of the Linux Foundation members are European, and the foundation is deeply involved in EU legislative initiatives like the Cyber Resilience Act and the Product Liability Directive, to give Europeans open source contributors a stronger voice and position.

“Open source is a positive sum-game that fits into the tech landscape and into how our societies embrace digitization. When we talk about AI, we are talking about how it would impact various parts of our society  and the ethical aspects. Open source can be a driver for positive change” - Mirko Boehm.

He spoke about the open source grassroots community, the open source commercial and financial ecosystems and the collective value and social innovation fostered by the academic sector and by public funding programs like NGI Sargasso, key players in developing early stage technologies to a point where they can become mainstream, even in business applications.

“We are essentially a member-driven neutral governance entity, which means that no single company controls the collaboration”, stated Boehm. That’s another reason why the Linux Foundation landed in Europe, allowing their members to participate at a high level in building the open source ecosystem, so small and larger businesses can work together. No membership is required to contribute to Linux Foundation Europe projects.

Open source is widely viewed as a vital part of the future of multiple industry sectors that traditionally don't think of themselves as primarily software-driven, explained Mirko according to one of their reports. He added that as digitalization spreads to all industry sectors, open source is becoming the default collaboration mechanism. 

In short, the role of the Linux Foundation Europe is to enable local collaboration with the European open source community.

Mirko highlighted that open source is not primarily a tool to achieve political goals, it is a tool to work together when you can agree on licensing and open governance of the projects, and that this technology is available to the whole world:

“There is absolutely no restriction on who can use the technology and where and for what purpose. That is the nature of open source” - Mirko Boehm.

How does the Linux Foundation host transatlantic cooperative projects?

When people hear about the Linux Foundation, they usually think of the Linux operating system. It was the starting project, the first of the over 850 they have now. 

The Linux Foundation hosts the projects, and not a single company owns their assets. Instead, it’s all community-based, clarified Mirko. 

In numbers, the Linux Foundation manages about 1,000 different domains and server names; 700 trademarks; 15,000 different source group repositories, and over 3,000 member companies.

“We basically translate the funding that we get from our member companies into support for the projects, and aim to come out with zero at the end of the year”, said Mirko.

To the question “What do you require if you want to be a project?”, Mirko answered that members need neutrality of the technology, meaning that the assets are handled by the community, setting up an environment where they can trust that transparency is there, and that they, as participants, can join the project. “It's really up to the community to drive it”, he clarified, and “that's what we call open governance: it's a community project and it will remain to be a community project, because projects come to us seeking a neutral home”.

The Linux Foundation doesn’t require projects to be large, instead, they focus on important technology developed in the right way, which for them, means open source. Some projects have funding, but some others don’t.

As usual, the inspirational talk ended up being an interactive online session with vibrant discussions with our innovators.

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Startups, SMEs, Researchers and NGOs and Foundations Can Get up to €100,000 for their Future Internet Ideas

Startups, SMEs, researchers, and NGOs focused on Next Generation Internet (NGI) technologies can bring their visionary ideas to life with NGI Sargasso. This is a European-funded project part of Next Generation Internet initiative, fostering a unique collaborative ecosystem and cascade funding program for promoting the Transatlantic cooperation to shape the Internet of the future.

During the 36-month duration of the project, NGI Sargasso will run 5 open calls for proposals, attracting +300 EU-US/Canada teams working on emerging topics, such as trust and data sovereignty, digital identity, internet architecture renovation, decentralized technologies, and standards, and plans to support up to 96 projects that will benefit from:

• Up to 100,000€ in equity-free funding. 
• Up to 9-month Capacity-building programme.

The benefits for applicants willing to unleash future Internet with a human-centric approach are:

• Various capacity-building programs:

• 9-month program with up to €100,000 funding.
• 6-month program with €75,000 funding.
• 3-month program with €50,000 funding.

• Comprehensive Support, such as mentoring, coaching, and access to leading tech conferences and innovation summits.
• Community Engagement with free access to a dynamic community of over 3,000 Internet innovators.

NGI Sargasso open call matchmaking service: the Brokerage System

The first step to apply for NGI Sargasso’s open calls is to register in their Brokerage System, a platform where European entities can be matched with the USA or Canadian ones - or the other way around. The application process is as follows:

1. Registration in the Brokerage Platform to match your Transatlantic partner.
2. Sign a Letter Support with your Transatlantic partner and draft your project together.
3. Submit your joint application on the NGI Sargasso website -  the European counterpart.

https://youtu.be/zT9p936KK_A?feature=shared

The third call will be launched in Spring 2024, and the rest of the open calls, during 2024 and 2025. 

Why dream when you can create? Tech enthusiasts, join hands across the Atlantic, and turn your ideas into groundbreaking innovations with NGI Sargasso.

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How NGI Sargasso is Fostering EU-US/Canada Tech Innovation with €4.8M Funding

NGI Sargasso is a European Commission funded project, part of the Horizon Europe Programme, aiming to create a unique collaborative ecosystem to harvest EU-US or EU-Canada technology breakthroughs that aim to revolutionize the Next Generation Internet technologies, services and standards, and contribute to the evolution of the Internet according to a human-centric approach of the internet commons through five open calls to fund 90 Transatlantic teams to redefine future Internet with a budget of €4,800,000.

In addition, the NGI Sargasso project is part of the umbrella initiative, the Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative, launched by the European Commission in 2016, which supports this vision of building bridges internationally.

In this context, NGI Sargasso is focused on creating a unique collaborative ecosystem and program for promoting the cooperation for NGI technologies across the Atlantic, matching European innovators with their USA or Canadian counterparts to unleash the Internet of the future on topics such as trust, data sovereignty, digital identity, Internet architecture and renovation, decentralized technology, interoperability and standardization, and new internet commons. 

Up to €100,000 equity-free funding for Transatlantic teams

The NGI Sargasso open call offers participants a comprehensive program that includes up to €100,000 in equity-free funding for their projects. Additionally, they receive mentoring and coaching from leading business and industry experts, exposure at top technology events across Europe, and access to startup events. Participants also benefit from the NGI Sargasso Brokerage Platform, which facilitates matchmaking with potential Transatlantic partners. The platform is continually open for new registrations, ensuring ongoing opportunities for collaboration and growth.

Who can apply? Our target audience includes a versatile community encompassing startups, SMEs, NGOs, Research centers, Universities and various other stakeholders eager to enhance Next Generation Internet technologies and services.

The first open call has successfully concluded, with its selected eight projects:  

• APSIDE - Asset profile standards for interoperable decentralized ecosystems.
• D3ICA - Democratizing decentralized digital identity through cloud agents.
• DDIP - Decentralized digital identity profile.
• EBSI-CAN - EBSI and verifiable credentialing in Canada. 
• EvORAN - Evaluation of open-ran network equipment including underlying.
• INTEROP4DID - Interoperable decentralized identity and wallet infrastructure. 
• SBAS - A secure underlay for the Internet. 
• SNDS - Secure named data sharing.

The second open call closed in December 2023 with almost 80 innovators ready to reshape our Internet. The selected beneficiaries will be announced by the end of this month.

The third open call is set to launch in Spring 2024 and will accept applications from the UK, timed to coincide with the 4YFN event in Barcelona from the 26th to the 29th of February, where our partners will gather to present our funding opportunities for the Next Generation Internet stakeholders.

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NGI Sargasso Second Open Call Closes with 80 Innovators Ready to Shape the Internet of the Future

NGI Sargasso closed yesterday, the 18th of December at 17:00 CET, its second open call looking for startups, SMEs, Universities and research centres, and NGOs and foundations to redesign the Internet of the future with a total of 168 open applications, 79 of those in submitted status, coming from 21 Europe and its Associated Countries, besides the US and Canada.

Spain is the first in the list of countries that have participated in submitting proposals to create an Internet of trust with a human-centric approach, with 11 submissions, followed by Italy and France with 10; Belgium with 6; Germany and Romania with 5; Estonia, Ireland, and The Netherlands with 4; Greece and North Macedonia with 3; Austria, Finland, Poland and Turkey with 2; and Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Israel, Luxembourg and Slovenia with 1.

Regarding the type of organizations that have submitted applications, 47 are coming from startups/SMEs; 18 from Universities and 4 from research centres; 7 from NGOs and 2 from foundations; and 1 more is coming from other type of entities.

Internet innovators applied to address one or more of the following ten challenges:

1. Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Across Continents.
2. Harmonized Cross-Atlantic Digital Governance.
3. Inclusive Public Digital Spaces for Global Community Engagement.
4. Enhanced Data Security and Privacy in Transcontinental Perspective.
5. Interoperability and Standardization Across Borders.
6. Global Implementation of Decentralized Technologies.
7. Next-Gen Cybersecurity and Generative AI.
8. Quantum-Resistant Security Systems.
9. Redefining Intelligence in a Hyperconnected World.
10. Open Challenge for Next Generation Internet.

The winners of the NGI Sargasso second open call will be announced in January 2024, after external experts carefully evaluate each proposal.

Three more open calls to distribute up to €100,000 equity-free funding per selected project

After closing the first and second open calls, we will launch three more open calls, the next one in Spring 2024, with the novelty of accepting applications from the UK.

Benefits for selected projects include:

• Securing a lump sum of up to €100,000 equity-free funding per proposal.
• Entering an up to 9-month Capacity-Building program with several lectures, inspirational talks and activities.
• Getting coaching and mentoring services from top experts.
• Joining the NGI - The Next Generation Internet Community with over 3,000 innovators.

We encourage you to have a look at the page for EU applicants and the page for US and Canada applicants. We will make public the page for UK applicants in 2024. Stay tuned and join us to reshape the Internet of the future!

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How many Internets We Should Have According to Glenn Ricart from US Ignite

This article gathers the main insights of the Inspirational Talk for the NGI Sargasso First Open Call Innovators as part of their 9-month Capacity Building Program

How many Internets do we need? and How many Internets do we have? were the two key questions used by Glenn Ricart, Founder and CTO at US Ignite and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science at the University of Utah, to open his Inspirational Talk on the 17th of October 2023 for the NGI Sargasso first open call beneficiaries who are currently doing our 9-month Capacity Building program as part of the perks of our funding program.

According to Dr. Ricart, we have commercial, scientific, industrial, smart devices, location-specific and single purpose Internets. The difference between them is their application for which they are used. However, they can be components of cooperating ecosystems.

What do we mean by ‘Next Generation Internet’?

During his talk, the reflection about the meaning of ‘Next Generation Internet’ was also very relevant. Ricart explained that for NGI we mean Internets built from “Next Generation Internet technologies”. Some of these technologies are already being tested in research Internets such as the new FABRIC terabit-per-second research network in the US.

From the question What does Next Generation Internet mean?, he moved to another one: What is an Internet? to share his personal definition.

“An Internet is a collaboration with the real world interconnecting great minds, incredible datasets (most real-time), and models that both mimic and have rich interactions with reality” - Glenn Ricart.

He added that models can be people, resources, data, Artificial Intelligence agents, boundary and safety conditions, and personal privacy.  

Ricart highlighted the importance of initiatives like NGI Sargasso to shape our Internet of the future, which will be defined by the 90 brilliant projects by top startups, SMEs, researchers, NGOs and foundations from Europe, UK, US and Canada that we will select during our five open calls, the next and third one opening in Spring 2024. 

An Internet of trust was another concept discussed during his talk, “generated by equity, data governance, cybersecurity, privacy and community engagement in the new technologies we work with”, said Ricart. Topics addressed in our funding program, including up to €100,000 equity-free funding.

After Glenn Ricart shared his view on what is an Internet and what Next Generation Internet means, our first open call innovators featured a vivid Q&A session and debate, in which interesting discussions arose, such as the differences between open, closed, local, and blockchain verified Internet, and how to create interoperability between them.

More about US Ignite

US Ignite is nonprofit, accelerating the smart city movement – and creating value for an entire ecosystem – by guiding communities into the connected future, creating a path for private sector growth, and advancing technology research that’s at the heart of smart city development.

As a trusted partner, they bring this ecosystem together, successfully pairing financial investment with technical and organizational expertise. Through the public-private partnership (P3) programs they run, US Ignite is a catalyst for communications network advancement, and for innovation in smart city services that are powered by a new generation of technologies.

NGI Sargasso is formed by a consortium with four more partners that we invite you to discover.

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NGI Sargasso Meets the European Next Generation Internet Ecosystem at the NGI Forum 2023

The NGI Sargasso team gathered at the NGI Forum 2023 celebrated in Brussels on the 15th and 16th of November to meet Europe’s top Internet innovators at work to build an Internet of Trust, empowering end-users with more choice and control over their data and digital identity.

We networked with many relevant stakeholders of the Next Generation Internet ecosystem at the flagship hybrid event of the European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative. We discussed strategic actions to attract the best technological talent of the European Union with Monique Calisti, CEO at Martel Innovate and NGI Coordinator, and Thomas Wilczek, Senior Project Manager of NGI projects at FundingBox. We also spoke with them about how to drive innovation forward boosting cross Atlantic collaboration for a more human-centered Internet, one of the key objectives of NGI Sargasso, and we meet our Project Officer at the European Commission, Stergios Tsiafoulis.

Networking with innovators and open source lovers to create an Internet for humans

Since we have two open calls running, our Second Open Call to distribute up to €100,000 equity-free funding for Internet innovators and open source lovers, and the Open Call for Evaluators, we networked with potential applicants coming from across Europe, while we got inspired by hearing many amazing success stories from the NGI initiative. One of them was the case of our innovator Alex Grech, Executive Director at the University of Malta and NGI Sargasso Open Call 1 beneficiary with the project EBSI-CAN: ‘EBSI and verifiable credentialing in Canada’.

Grech participated as a moderator at “PLENARY 2: Shaping Digital Identity and Credentials in the Web 4.0 Era: Empowering and Safeguarding Individuals in the Online World”, a panel that explored whether – and how – three European Commission’s flagship initiatives, the European Digital Identity (EUDI) Regulation, reinforced by the European Blockchain Services Infrastructure (EBSI), and the Next Generation Internet (NGI), could steer technological developments towards social and environmental good, ensuring that digital identity solutions empower and protect users in the EU and across the globe, leading to a safer, more connected, and sustainable world for all. We had the chance to interview him to discover more about his EBSI-CAN project.

Our partners from AUSTRALO, Raquel Carro and Sara Abu, were interviewed by two students of the University of Aarhus, Simone Rosendal and Katrine Albaek, about the importance of communication and dissemination for the NGI initiative, including the challenges that we face.

https://youtu.be/HfT2KpLzDjU?feature=shared

More about the NGI Forum 2023

The NGI Forum 2023 is designed as a dynamic hub for visionary thinkers, policymakers, and technologists to delve into the forefront of Europe's digital transformation. At its core, the forum places the spotlight on the concept of the Digital Commons, which is particularly crucial for Europe, as it fosters equitable access to information, fuels innovation, and bolsters digital sovereignty.

In a multifaceted agenda that spans European policy developments, innovation trends, and NGI activities, the NGI Forum 2023 explores a diverse array of topics to underpin the transition to the future Internet. The discussions expand to digital identity, quantum internet, large language models and web search, decentralised social media and security of the open source supply chain.

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