2026-06-03 –, Main stage
As the EU accelerates its push for strategic autonomy, the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework (v1.2.1, Oct 2025) has emerged as the definitive standard for digital services. But what does "sovereignty" actually mean in a technical and legal audit? This session explores the framework’s core components—the 8 Sovereignty Objectives (SOVs) and the 5 SEAL levels—to demonstrate why Open Source is not just a preference, but a mandatory foundation for reaching the highest levels of digital resilience and EU compliance.
The European Commission’s Cloud Sovereignty Framework represents a major shift from general security compliance to specific "sovereignty-by-design" requirements. Born from initiatives like Gaia-X and CIGREF, it provides a quantitative method to assess the independence of digital services from non-EU actors and proprietary lock-in.
In this talk, Emiel Brok will break down the framework for the OW2 community, focusing on two critical assessment pillars:
The Sovereignty Effective Assurance Level (SEAL): Mapping the requirements from SEAL-0 (No Sovereignty) to SEAL-4 (Full Digital Sovereignty), and explaining which technical safeguards are required at each stage.
The 8 Sovereignty Objectives (SOVs): A deep dive into Legal, Operational, and Supply Chain Sovereignty, and how they impact the procurement and development of cloud-native stacks.
We will specifically address how the "EU First" policy is reshaping the digital landscape and why open-source technology is the only viable path to achieving a high "Sovereignty Score." The session will conclude with a call to action for European providers and developers to align their roadmaps with these standards to ensure long-term operational resilience and market relevance in a regulated Europe.
For over 20 years Emiel has been at the forefront of the open source revolution. Emiel combines corporate leadership with deep advocacy for digital rights. Currently driving strategy at SUSE, he is also a Co-founder and Board Member of DOSBA and serves on the board of APELL.
Emiel views the open source way of life as a blueprint for society prioritizing collaboration, transparency, and digital sovereignty. An experienced and dynamic speaker, he is known for skipping the standard lecture format in favor of engaging directly with his audience, turning every keynote into a two-way dialogue on the future of technology and policy.