The European Commission's Next Generation Internet (NGI) program, which has been funding free software initiatives in Europe since 2020, is facing uncertainty about its future. According to the Horizon Europe working draft for 2025, NGI is no longer listed as part of Cluster 4, sparking concerns among supporters who see it as a vital component of European technological innovation and digital sovereignty.

The program has been instrumental in supporting small-scale organizations and initiatives, contributing to a vast ecosystem that covers hardware, operating systems, digital identities, and data traffic supervision. Its funding mechanism, which allocates most of its budget to third-party projects through open calls, has allowed for collaborations across the Euro zone countries and widening countries.

The decision to omit NGI from the 2025 program has raised questions about the potential impact on European software infrastructure and innovation. Supporters argue that preserving the program is crucial for maintaining technological sovereignty and promoting free and open source software, which by design allows data to be kept local and favors community-wide economies.

Source: https://nixos.org/blog/announcements/2024/letter/