Online session on future of European open hardware

At the Next Generation Internet Forum event on May 18th 2021, NLnet hosted an online session on the future of European chip development. State-of-the-art projects creating open hardware and permissionless design tools demonstrate how Europe can regain control over electronic devices through transparent, collaborative design and together with industry and policy representatives we discuss what this means for the future. With global chip shortages plaguing the tech sector, our dependency on chip imports is becoming a liability for our industry, security and sovereignty - and may affect European society at many fundamental levels. Eurocommissioner Thierry Breton has recently stated that Europe should at least double its current output in the next decade, and that ambition should probably only be the start. Among the hundreds of projects supported by NGI Zero (which consists of two complementary grant programs to improve search and discoverability and develop privacy and trust enhancing technologies) there quite a number of innovative free and open source efforts working to advance the state of art in open hardware. The second session looks forward to a future European silicon ecosystem with a panel of industry and policy leaders who discuss the role of open source technology in a resurgent European semiconductor landscape, moderated by Rob Taylor (LibreCores/Chipflow).