The European Commission is seeking feedback on plans to strengthen the region’s open-source ecosystem as it seeks to reduce reliance on non-European tech  providers. A new initiative — “Towards European open digital ecosystems” — is intended to support the growth and sustainability of the European Union’s open-source sector, which the Commission considers a key part of its digital sovereignty agenda . The strategy focuses on wider adoption in the public and private sectors, improved competitiveness and stronger support for startups. It focuses on a range of sectors, such as cloud, AI, security, and open hardware, and will be targeted at the EU’s key automotive and manufacturing industries. The consultation period runs until Feb. 3, with stakeholders from the open source community, including developers, vendors, researchers, invited to provide feedback. The EU faces a “significant problem of dependence on non-EU countries in the digital sphere,” the Commission said , a reference to the widespread use of US cloud providers in the region. Open source technologies can help “regain control and boost the resilience of our digital infrastructure,” it said. The Commission points out that open source is already “deeply embedded” in most software systems — between 70% and 90% of all lines of code, according to one estimate — with the use of open AI models on the rise. While the EU is home to one of the largest ecosystems of open-source developer communities, it’s the tech giants outside of the EU that tend to capitalize on the value created. “EU stakeholders generally struggle with high entry barriers and network effects of dominant players, both in the public procurement market and in the private sector market,” the Commission said. The EU has invested in supporting open source in the past, including the Next Generation Internet and GenAI4EU initiatives. However, the Commission contends that existing research and innovation programs are insufficient, with “sustainable support and governance frameworks” needed to scale open source communities. The new plans will entail a combination of funding and policy measures to encourage growth, the Commission said, and will include a review its 2020-2023 open source strategy . As geopolitical concerns rise among European organizations, open source technologies are increasingly viewed as an alternative to US cloud providers. A recent Gartner survey found that 55% of CIOs and IT leaders said geopolitics has made open source a more important criteria when selecting new cloud services .