What happens when a federal state doesn’t just talk about supporting open source - but actually does it?

In this talk, we’ll share insights on how the state of Saxony is becoming a pioneer for open source in Germany: with a clear open source strategy and real financial support such as the publicly funded project FOCIS, which enables our non-profit association ALASCA to grow into a more stable, independent home for open source projects.

We’ll take you through our journey from a young association supported mostly by volunteers, to a professionally staffed organization that now supports six projects. With public funding, we were able to hire own employees, stabilize and expand existing governance structures, and lay the groundwork for a resilient open source foundation.

You’ll learn:

How public funding can help in bootstrapping an open source foundation

which benefits and support have been established using public funding

What other communities or regions can take from this example

This talk is for anyone building or supporting open source communities - from maintainers and foundation organizers to policy makers and public sector advocates - who care about long-term sustainability, governance, and funding models.