The Government and the Art of Infrastructure Maintenance

Explore how the Sovereign Tech Fund, a German state-funded organization, is working to strengthen and support the free and open source ecosystem for public benefit in this 12-minute lightning talk. Discover the Fund's efforts to address challenges such as limited funding for long-term maintenance and security, fragmented career prospects for project maintainers, and the need to expand the pool of open source contributors. Learn about the organization's first two years of operation, insights from their survey of open source maintainers, and strategies for fostering collaboration within the FOSS landscape. Gain valuable perspectives on ensuring the long-term sustainability of software that societies depend on, as presented by Powen Shiah and Mirko Swillus from the Sovereign Tech Fund.