The three emergenCITY lab engineers gathered inspiration at one of the largest meetings for open-source developers
On the weekend of February 1st and 2nd, we, three emergenCITY lab engineers, attended the 25th edition of the “Free Open Source Developers’ European Meeting” (FOSDEM) in Brussels, Belgium. As one of the largest gatherings of open-source developers and communities, FOSDEM brought together over 1,100 speakers and many attendees from across industries, academia, and even government. The event was an inspiring weekend of cutting-edge projects, insightful and thought-provoking discussions, and new developments in open-source software and hardware in general. Before diving into the conference, however, we took some time to explore the bustling city of Brussels. Between sampling the city’s famous waffles, fries and beer, we visited iconic landmarks such as the beautiful Grand-Place and the impressive Atomium. The blend of historic architecture and modern city life made for a great prelude to the weekend.
With over 35 tracks running in parallel on both days, it was impossible for us to see everything the conference had to offer. Still, we managed to attend some especially interesting talks around cloud and collaboration software, unlocking historic and discontinued devices like a Commodore C900, open-hardware projects like e-Ink monitors, LoRa mesh networks, and open-source rocketry. A rapid-fire session of short “Lightning Lightning Talks” provided a light-hearted and fun refresher with a wide range of topics and ideas, while sessions like a talk on Concurrency Testing dove deeper into details. In many cases, the sheer number of attendees made it challenging to get into some of the talks or even entire tracks, as many rooms filled to their capacity quickly. In these cases, we were able to make use of the great live streams for each room. For those sessions we could not attend, we are grateful that these streams were converted into recordings that are still available online for free. We still have quite a few talks to catch up on, ensuring we don’t miss out on some interesting tidbits of the mountain of knowledge shared during the event.
One of the highlights of FOSDEM is the multitude of community stands where developers and organizers showcase their projects. We explored the latest in open-source 3D printing with Prusa, exchanged experiences, tips, and tricks with the developers of FreeCAD, and looked at various advancements in Git-related version control and collaboration solutions. Between the talks and stands, several projects caught our interest, both in our roles as Lab Engineers and beyond that. These projects include open-source autonomous drones, the Pocket Science Lab, and the work of the Libre Space Foundation, which is advancing open-source solutions for space technology and satellite communication.
FOSDEM is much more than a conference with talks and stands though. It is an event where open-source contributors, researches, and decision-makers from science, industry, administration, and politics come together and network. Their passion for open collaboration and knowledge sharing came through in every hallway conversation and spontaneous discussion. It was inspring to discuss the state-of-the-art in email authentication security with a longtime Thunderbird developer or getting our hands on Smartphones liberated from the chains of their manufacturers. This way, the open source community not only influenced us but also the other way around. Attending FOSDEM 2025 was an exciting and highly informative experience, giving us valuable insights into emerging trends and strengthening our connection with the open-source community. The event reaffirmed the importance of free and open-source software and hardware in driving innovation and shaping a collaborative future of technology. We are already looking forward to next year’s edition!
Julian Euler is a laboratory engineer at emergenCITY.
