The European Open Source & Free Software Law Event
EOLE 2026
International annual conference cycle, the European Open Source & Free Software Law Event (EOLE) aims to promote the share and dissemination of legal knowledge related to free software, as well as the development and promotion of good practices. Initiative born in 2008 from practitioners’ needs, EOLE has for purpose to develop a legal doctrine dedicated to the dissemination of neutral and qualitative information. In 2026, EOLE’s focus will be on open source and sovereignty.
2026 main theme is “Open Source and Sovereignty”
Abstract
Europe has rediscovered “sovereignty” through a wave of new regulation — Cyber Resilience Act, AI Act, cloud sovereignty tenders. EOLE 2026 takes the opposite starting point: Free Software, Open Source and open AI have been pursuing digital autonomy for forty years, long before the word “sovereignty” entered the policy lexicon. The 2026 cycle is therefore not a compliance forum on the new regulations. It is a year-long community effort — a kick-off webinar in late June, a shared working space, a flagship event in Q4 — to map the tools, licences, governance practices and communities through which openness already delivers sovereignty, and to reconnect the lawyers, technologists, public actors and academics who quietly sustain that infrastructure.
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More than 200 Open Source Legal experts from almost 50 countries already shared their knowledge and practices for the benefits of more than thousand attendees since our first edition.
