FOSS4G Europe

🗣️ KEYNOTE #3 🗣️

“Imagine Europe's policy process had a CONTRBUTING.md. How would you get a pull request merged, and what would count as a useful commit?”

This is a question our 3rd keynote speaker, Stefanie Lumnitz (FOSS4G Made in Europe Co-Chair), will be asking the audience. Her talk comes at a timely moment when the European Union has just released its Open Source strategy.

For decades, the FOSS4G community has built and maintained the geospatial digital commons Europe depends on. Today, this work is increasingly recognized and open-source is moving into policy agendas, funding programmes, and institutional strategies, including Europe's emerging tech sovereignty agenda.

This creates an opportunity for FOSS4G: not only to be recognised, but to shape the conditions under which open geospatial tools are funded, procured, trusted, adopted, and maintained. It is one way to secure the long-term relevance, sustainability, and impact of the digital commons we build and maintain. But are we ready to engage?

This keynote invites the FOSS4G community to treat governance with the same rigour as code. We will look at how European decision-making works in practice, and why your next most valuable contributor might be a policy specialist or business developer. It will offer concrete recommendations for making better policy 'commits', while opening a discussion on how we maintain the tools, values and conditions that allow open geospatial commons to thrive as part of Europe's digital infrastructure.

Stefanie Lumnitz works at the intersection of environmental data, artificial intelligence, and European policy. She is an Environmental Observations Policy Officer at the European Commission Directorate-General for Research and Innovation, currently seconded from the European Space Agency. Her work focuses on strengthening Europe’s Earth intelligence ecosystem by connecting environmental observations, modelling, AI, and open geospatial technologies. Through initiatives such as the EC–ESA Earth System Science Initiative, she brings together scientific communities across Europe to close key knowledge gaps in the Earth system while fostering open, collaborative infrastructures for environmental data and analytics. She is particularly interested in how open geospatial ecosystems can strengthen Europe’s technological sovereignty, support sustainable digital infrastructures, and stimulate a stronger innovation and start-up culture around environmental data and open-source technologies.

👉 Learn more about our keynote speakers here: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/speaker/
👉 Check the EU Open Source Strategy here: https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/policies/eu-tech-sovereignty

👀 We have a confession to make. Our merchandise has been flying fast.
If you're looking to take home a souvenir to remind you of your wonderful time in , now it is the time!
Merch available at registration until 𝐉𝐮𝐧𝐞 5𝐭𝐡.
🎟️ Browse the talks and workshops calendar, select your optional activities and secure your ticket and merch here: https://pretix.geo-spatial.org/foss4ge2026/timisoara2026/

🟠 Meet our Bronze Sponsor 🟠
TERRASIGNA is a Romanian geospatial technology company specializing in Earth Observation (EO) data processing and analytics. Leveraging satellite, aerial, and in-situ data sources, Terrasigna develops advanced solutions for environmental monitoring, risk assessment, and infrastructure analysis, helping organizations turn complex geospatial data into actionable, real-world insights.
specialization, cloud and modern architecture.
👏 Thank you, TERRASIGNA, for supporting FOSS4G Europe 2026 and the open geospatial ecosystem. See you in Timișoara!
👉 Check the company and more on their website: www.terrasigna.com
◼️ More on our Sponsors: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/sponsors/
🤲 Sponsoring events like FOSS4G Europe 2026 Timișoara can be a great opportunity for ongoing investment in the community. If you're interested in joining us, check our sponsorship call at: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/sponsors/call-for-sponsors/

⚪ Meet our Gold Sponsor: GeoCat ⚪
GeoCat provides advanced software and services that make publishing geographic and open data on the internet easier and more efficient than ever. Their expert developers play a leading role in open-source software, creating sustainable applications based on Open Standards and the Free and Open Source software philosophy.

GeoCat’s product suite includes GeoCat Find (powered by GeoNetwork, the open-source catalog for geographic and open data), GeoCat Map (built on GeoServer), and GeoCat Bridge (seamlessly publishing data from your desktop GIS with a single click). For an even more streamlined experience, our solutions are available via a cloud platform, GeoCat Live.

👏 Thank you, GeoCat, for supporting FOSS4G Europe 2026 and the open geospatial ecosystem. See you in Timișoara!
👉 Check the company and more on their website: www.geocat.com
◼️ More on our Sponsors: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/sponsors/
🤲 Sponsoring events like FOSS4G Europe 2026 Timișoara can be a great opportunity for ongoing investment in the community. If you're interested in joining us, check our sponsorship call at: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/sponsors/call-for-sponsors/

🗣️ KEYNOTE #2 🗣️

"GIS in the Cloud," details the convergence of GIS with Cloud Computing and AI, focusing on Quarticle's AI-ready geospatial solutions. Quarticle provides high-performance geoprocessing and intelligent risk analysis tools, emphasizing operational efficiency, scalability, and cloud independence. The core technical contribution is the use of a Kubernetes (K8s) Operator for automated GeoServer management, transforming it into a cloud-native, self-regenerative service. This Declarative and Reliable architecture uses Custom Resource Definitions (CRDs) and Helm templates for consistency. The operational flow employs GitOps via ArgoCD: changes committed to Git automatically trigger the Operator to manage GeoServer resources through its REST API, ensuring continuous deployment and zero downtime. The talk highlights the ongoing technological progress in K8s and open-source Foundation Models.

Dr. Octavian Iercan got his PhD in remote sensing while also working on various research projects at the FELIS Institute of Remote Sensing and Landscape Information Systems, from the Albert-Ludwig University of Freiburg, Germany. After his studies, he worked at TeleAtlas (Vienna) as country manager for Romania, at Google (Zurich) as Operations Lead for StreetView projects, at EPFL (Lausanne) as a Postdoctoral Researcher, and at SwissRe (Zurich) as Head of Geoinformation.

👉 Learn more about our keynote speakers here: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/speaker/

⚪ Meet our Platinum Sponsor: Quarticle ⚪
🌍 Powering the future of geo-intelligence, at scale Quarticle builds next-generation, cloud-native solutions that help organizations manage, analyze, and share geospatial data-securely, flexibly, and at high performance.
By blending open-source technologies with their own innovations, they give clients the best of both worlds:
✅ Full control over their data
✅ Continuous improvements from the global open-source community
✅ Scalable, future-ready infrastructure

💡 What makes Quarticle stand out?
- Strong advocates of the open geospatial ecosystem
- Active supporters of OGC standards
- Deep commitment to QGIS (training, adoption, integration)
- Backers of key initiatives like the GeoServer 3 crowdfunding effort

🤝 Their support for FOSS4G Europe 2026 in Timișoara reflects more than sponsorship-it’s a real investment in community, collaboration, and open innovation.
👉 Explore their work and see how you can collaborate: https://quarticle.ch/
🔎 Discover all sponsors: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/sponsors/

📅 The wait is over — the General Track schedule is now live!
Whether you're a developer, researcher, or practitioner, there's something in the schedule for you. Head over to the official website to explore the sessions, find your favourites, and start planning your days in . From cutting-edge geospatial tech to open-source tools shaping the future of our field, this year's programme is packed with talks you won't want to miss.
👉 Check out the full schedule: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/schedule/talks/
‼️We apologise for the gaps in the program. We’re working to finalise the general programme and we urge all accepted speakers to get in touch to confirm participation as soon as possible.
🎟️ Register here for our conference: https://pretix.geo-spatial.org/foss4ge2026/timisoara2026/
We can't wait to gather the open-source geospatial community in one of Romania's most vibrant cities. 🏙️

‼️ UPDATE FROM OUR CALL FOR PAPERS ‼️
To everyone that has submitted a talk to our General Track Call for Papers, the selection has now concluded and acceptance e-mails have now landed in your inbox.
‼️As we finalise the general programme, we urge all accepted speakers to get in touch to confirm participation as soon as possible.
We send a big thank you to everyone that has submitted and looking forward to welcoming you to !
🎟️ Register for our conference here: https://pretix.geo-spatial.org/foss4ge2026/timisoara2026/

👥 Open source thrives on collaboration — and the best collaborations start with a conversation.
FOSS4G Europe's B2B Sessions give businesses, experts and fellow participants a dedicated time to meet, explore synergies, and turn conference energy into lasting partnerships. Whether you're looking for a technical partner, a new client, your next hire or just a chat, this is where it starts.
❗ Event available when selecting the B2B option at registration: https://pretix.geo-spatial.org/foss4ge2026/timisoara2026/
👉 Check the details of our B2B sessions here: https://2026.europe.foss4g.org/schedule/b2b/

🎉 Big community news! 🎉
We’re super excited to share that :UK will host 2027 in Bristol, from 23–29 August 2027 📅🇬🇧
Huge thanks to the ❤️ OSGeo Conference Development Committee for this opportunity, and massive appreciation to everyone involved in the bid and all those who jumped in to help plan the conference—especially our friends at the University of Bristol 🙌✨
We’re already looking forward to welcoming the global FOSS4G community to Bristol next summer 🗺️☀️
Until then… let’s not wait too long 😄
Can’t wait to meet as many of you at Europe 2026 in Timișoara 🇷🇴🎊
See you soon! 👋💚