OW2con'26 Keynotes Speakers
OW2con'26 will welcome a range of high profile and world-class keynote speakers, including:
"Start your own Internet Resiliency Club using LoRa radios, mesh networking, and community management", by Valerie Aurora, co-founder, Amsterdam Internet Resiliency Club
Valerie Aurora is an open source software engineer with more than 25 years of experience in operating systems. After moving from San Francisco to Amsterdam in 2023, she focused on improving European digital independence. She was a special rapporteur for the Cyber Resilience Act and served on the program committee for RIPE. She is the co-founder, with Sasha Romijn, of the Amsterdam Internet Resiliency Club.
"Decoding the EU Cloud Sovereignty Framework: A Strategic Roadmap for the Open Source Ecosystem", by Emiel Brok, Sovereignty Ambassador, SUSE / DOSBA
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.
"Featuring Sovereign, Democratic Healthcare: Open-Source Medical Imaging Devices as a Proposal for Critical Infrastructure", by Martin Häuer, Board, Open Source Imaging Initiative
Martin Häuer is the scientific head for open standards (JTC-C1) at Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg. He is deeply engaged in the open-source hardware ecosystem, mainly focusing on project coordination, documentation and governance. Martin has been active in several communities, including Open Source Ecology Germany, that he chaired for three years and where he initiated and led the development of DIN SPEC 3105 and maintained the OKH metadata standard. At the Open Source Imaging Initiative (OSI²) he serves as a board member, contribution manager and administrator of OSI²’s Conformity Assessment Body for open-source hardware and software in the medical imaging sector.
"For the future of our society: Let’s spark children’s interest in coding", by Matthias Kirschner, President, FSFE (Free Software Foundation Europe)
Matthias Kirschner is President of FSFE. In 1999 he started using GNU/Linux and realised that software is deeply involved in all aspects of our lives. Matthias is convinced that this technology has to empower society not restrict it. While studying Political and Administrative Science he joined FSFE in 2004. He helps other organisations, companies and governments to understand how they can benefit from Free Software and how those rights help to support freedom of speech, freedom of press or privacy. In his spare time, he has written the book "Ada & Zangemann - A Tale of Software, Skateboards, and Raspberry Ice Cream", which is translated in over 30 languages and meanwhile also available as a movie.
"Embracing Open Source in the Orange Backbone", by Jean-Louis Le Roux, Senior Vice President, Orange Intl. Networks Infrastructures and Services (OINIS)
Jean-Louis Le Roux is a renowned expert in telecommunication networks with extensive global experience. He heads Orange International Networks Infrastructures & Services (OINIS), the international technical direction of the Orange Group. OINIS designs, deploys, operates, and protects all Orange international networks (transmission, routing, services), with over 800 points of presence in 100 countries managed by 1,500 experts in submarine cables, satellites, terrestrial transmission, IP Networks, Telco Cloud, CDN, Voice, and Mobile services. OINIS supports Orange Business and Orange Wholesale markets, where Jean-Louis is also CTIO.
"Invited Country: GERMANY", by Tara Tarakiyee, Technologist Lead, Sovereign Tech Agency
Tara is a public-interest technologist working on identifying critical infrastructure software and designing investment mechanisms to encourage, sustain and maintain the FLOSS ecosystem. Tara has more than a decade of experience in funding and deploying FLOSS software to empower individuals, organizations and social movements.