Open source is now considered a strategic imperative. It plays a vital role in the economy and is the foundation for most technologies currently in use.
However, the value of open source software is hard to measure because of its non-monetary nature and the lack of centralised monitoring of its use. Consequently, most economic analysis does not take open source software into account.
The open source market continues to gain ground. In the European Union, it is valued at between €65 billion and €95 billion a year. Based on the calculated replacement value (i.e. if each business using open source software had to develop equivalent software in-house), the market is worth an estimated €8.2 trillion1, , equivalent to 2.8 times France’s GDP.
With demand for French and European digital sovereignty growing, public and private sector organisations can reduce their reliance on foreign suppliers by using and developing open source software.
What is open source?
Open source software is software whose source code is publicly accessible and can be freely edited and redistributed under specific licence terms. It is the foundation of just about all modern digital technologies, accounting for 97% of code bases in use2. This collaborative model means thousands of developers, communities, businesses and institutions can contribute together to software used in key fields such as artificial intelligence, Big Data, the Internet of Things and cybersecurity.
How does the open source economy work?
Contrary to the popular misconception that it is completely free, open source software is underpinned by a variety of economic models. The open source ecosystem is made up of various types of players: communities and contributors, foundations, distributors and publishers, and service providers. Development is funded through donations, government subsidies and business partnerships as well as by private companies that offer associated services (support, training, additional modules, etc.) and through volunteering by community contributors. This arrangement allows open source development to be economically viable while constantly innovating. Large corporates like Red Hat, IBM and Microsoft play an active role in this ecosystem both by contributing to projects and by hiring talent.
Advantages and obstacles
Open source solutions offer many advantages: they are often cheaper, more flexible, more secure and longer-lasting than proprietary alternatives. They foster systems interoperability and transparency – qualities valued by both the public and the private sector.
However, some obstacles remain, including in particular a lack of training, legal issues over licences, security-related risks and some resistance to change, especially in large organisations.
Current challenges
Despite its advantages and its ubiquity in digital infrastructure, open source software suffers from a lack of visibility, low awareness of its benefits and inadequate institutional support, undermining both its development and its sustainability. It remains significantly undervalued, with public authorities and economic agents rarely seeing it as a true source of strategic leverage.
The economic impact of open source software remains difficult to quantify with any accuracy. If we want to more accurately assess the economic value of the open source ecosystem, we need to adopt an alternative approach: assessing solutions based on their “proprietary replacement value”, i.e. how much it would have cost to acquire equivalent proprietary software.
Open source and European sovereignty
Europe occupies a strong position in the open source field, with some 18.5 million contributors, accounting for 15.4% of the worldwide total. Leading the European open source movement is France, where the market is flourishing, with the number of active communities growing by 20% in 2024.
In the European Union, open source software is worth between €65 billion and €95 billion a year. A 10% increase in European contributions to the open source ecosystem would generate as much as 0.6% in additional GDP, equating to nearly €100 billion (according to the European Commission)3.
Growing aspirations for European economic independence and local products are making open source software even more popular. A number of factors are behind this drive for independence: mounting geopolitical tensions and issues around the protection of personal data and the concentration of technological power in the hands of a small number of non-European players.
In the face of major industrial, climate and geostrategic challenges, supporting open source software is a strategic investment in speeding up Europe’s digital transformation, maintaining its sovereignty and boosting its economic growth.
Open source software is central to modern digital infrastructure. It offers public- and private-sector organisations a unique combination of adaptability, security and interoperability that proprietary solutions struggle to equal.
Furthermore, because it helps reduce reliance on major non-European tech firms and secure critical infrastructure, open source software can be a powerful driving force for strategic autonomy.
To find out more, see Tech – Open source: a driver of technological independence?
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