2026-03-17 –, Auditorium
Corporate users, volunteer maintainers, and everything in between, how can they work together? In this panel, we bring together different voices to explore: What does each side intend, expect, and need? And how can we bridge tensions in today’s open source supply chain?
The typical software supply chain has many participants: open source communities, maintainers, companies, and others. There is a rising number of regulations, policies, and processes around that, for example, the Cyber Resilience Act or other security requirements. Expectations of companies sometimes do not match what the community can or wants to offer, and vice versa. The misalignment creates stress on both sides. How can this stress be resolved, so that all participants can benefit from one another and reap the advantages of open source, which has become ubiquitous wherever software is?
In the panel, we bring together representatives of different perspectives to discuss these questions. It will cover open source maintainers, companies using open source for internal services and for basing products on, and people working on processes.
List of participants:
- Moderator: Melanie Wollnik (OpenRail Association and DB Systel)
- Sven Erik Jeroschewski (Bosch Digital)
- Cornelius Schumacher (DB Systel)
- Tim Schmetzer (Osborne Clarke)
- Sarah Hoffmann (Open Street Map)
Together we’ll ask:
- What drives users vs maintainers in the open source supply chain?
- Where do expectations clash?
- How can process, governance and community shape better alignment?
- How can organizations and projects adapt to serve each other, not just co-exist?
Sarah Hoffmann is a open-source maintainer and long-term active member in the OpenStreetMap community. She started out as a developer for operating systems but switched to the field of geospatial software when she discovered the OpenStreetMap project. Among others she is maintainer for the open-source geocoders Nominatim and Photon. She's been a Sovereign Tech Maintainer Fellow last year and currently works as a freelance open-source software developer.
Cornelius Schumacher is a long-time contributor and leader in the open source community. He has worked on a variety of projects, from volunteer-driven to enterprise. Originally a developer, he has moved into topics of governance, open source compliance, and how to run open source projects well. Cornelius works as Open Source Steward in the CTO team of DB Systel helping teams to successfully use and contribute to open source at Deutsche Bahn.
Sven Jeroschewski is a software engineer with the OSPO of the Robert Bosch GmbH. He studied Computer Engineering at the TU Berlin and the University of Oklahoma and is a committer with Eclipse Kuksa and Eclipse SDV Blueprints.
Melanie Wollnik is currently serving as a Facilitator for the Open Rail Team at the Open Rail Association, where she contributes her expertise in cross-functional collaboration. At Deutsche Bahn, she holds a leadership role and drives the digitalization of rail operations with her unit.
Tim Schmetzer advises both national and international companies on matters of IT and copyright law. He specialises in software law (including SaaS, IaaS, PaaS), AI regulatory topics and Open Source Software compliance.
Tim mainly advises clients in the Tech, Media and Comms sector and the Mobility and Infrastructure sector on all matters of information technology law, also contributing a deep technical understanding gained from programming knowledge.
Tim studied law in Freiburg, focussing on intellectual property and IT law. During his legal traineeship, Tim worked for a Berlin based boutique law firm for IT law and in the privacy office of an international healthcare company.