2026-03-17 –, Room bUm Box
Free and open standards, and the open processes behind them, can lay the foundation for innovation, interoperability, and compliance across EU digital, environmental, and industrial policies. Drawing on the Linux Foundation’s State of Open Standards report, this talk explores their potential to strengthen regulation, trust, and competitiveness.
In an increasingly digitalized Europe, legislation such as the Digital Markets Act, AI Act, and Cyber Resilience Act, depend on technology-neutral, interoperable frameworks to achieve their goals. Free and open standards, together with transparent and inclusive standardization processes, are emerging as essential tools for effective and accountable regulation.
Drawing on the Linux Foundation’s report, The State of Open Standards, Standardization and Patents in Organizations, this session explores how open standards are becoming a pillar of digital policy implementation. The research shows that nearly 80% of organizations view standardization as vital for compliance and strongly favor openly developed standards over proprietary or closed models.
We will examine three interconnected policy dimensions:
Why open standards matter for Europe and how they reduce dependency, enhance interoperability, improve quality, and advance strategic autonomy while supporting legislative aims such as transparency, data portability, and resilience.
What attributes drive trust and adoption: how openly published, consensus-based, and extensible standards strengthen compliance, innovation, and public confidence.
How policy can embed openness and the practical approaches for European institutions, standardization bodies, and industry to align around “free and open” standards as enabling infrastructure. This includes integrating open standards into procurement frameworks, certification schemes, and public-private partnerships.
The discussion will also consider the evolving role of standard-essential patents (SEPs) and the balance between openness, innovation, and fair intellectual property practice.
Attendees will leave with actionable insights on how to integrate open-standards thinking into policy design, regulatory compliance, and procurement strategy, turning evolving EU mandates into an opportunity for digital resilience and sustainable competitiveness.
Madalin is currently working as an EU Policy Advisor at OpenSSF with a focus on cybersecurity and open-source software. He serves as a bridge between OpenSSF (and its community), other technical communities and policymakers, helping position OpenSSF as a trusted resource within the global and European policy landscape.
His journey into this space began with a technical background in R&D and innovation, where he contributed to several commercial and R&D&I projects, EU-funded initiatives and international standardization efforts. Over the years, he has had the opportunity to work across technical, managerial, and research roles, always with a strong focus on openness, interoperability, and the societal value of technology.