Last week, Frank Karlitschek, CEO and founder of Nextcloud, received the Special Recognition for Contributions to Business & Impact Award at the European Open Source Awards (EOSA) 2026.
And while his name was called on stage, Frank wanted to highlight that this accomplishment is shared with the entire Nextcloud community, without whom it wouldn’t have been possible.
From contributors and translators to testers, partners, and users advocating for digital sovereignty every day: this award reflects a collective effort to prove that open source is impactful, competitive, and ready for Europe’s digital future.
Frank and his commitment to open source
Frank has been a long-time open source contributor and privacy activist since the late 1990s. Long before “data sovereignty” became a key term for Europe’s digital competitiveness, he was contributing to projects like KDE and serving on the board of KDE e.V.
Over the years, he has demonstrated his dedication to making the internet more secure and decentralized through the development of open collaboration solutions and the User Data Manifesto. He previously led ownCloud Inc. and is now CEO of Nextcloud GmbH.
Frank sees open source innovation as a collaborative effort, with a vision of a wider public adoption of transparent and secure software tools. Now, the EOSA recognition celebrates that long-term commitment to open source, as well as the community that grew around it.
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