Strategic Independence Across Layers of Governance

From cities and municipalities to regional bodies and national governments, public institutions are increasingly navigating complex digital ecosystems while seeking to maintain strategic independence in the technologies they rely on. Open source can serve as an important lever to support this objective by enabling collaboration, adaptability, and shared innovation across different levels of governance. 

This session will explore how open source approaches can strengthen digital capacity and strategic autonomy from the local to the national level. Speakers representing city administrations, regional authorities, and central governments will share experiences on how open source solutions can be developed, reused, and scaled across jurisdictions to support public services and digital transformation.

The discussion will highlight how collaboration between different layers of government can accelerate innovation, avoid duplication of effort, and build sustainable digital public infrastructure. Participants will also examine governance models, coordination mechanisms, and policy frameworks that enable open source initiatives to move effectively across institutional boundaries.