Dear Community,
wow, what a year, right? Now that the end of the year is just around the corner, we want to take the opportunity to provide you with the latest updates and exciting developments around ALASCA. In fact, it’s more than just an update – we’re taking a look back at all the exciting events that enriched us in 2024 and giving you a little preview of what to expect in 2025.
Here are the topics of this issue:
1) SMWA funding and vacancies
2) 2025 - an important year for ALASCA's TSC
3) Recent and upcoming ALASCA Tech-Talks
4) Recap of 2024 and a short sneak peek at 2025
5) Christmas greetings from the board
Have fun browsing! And as always, don't hesitate to get in touch if you have any questions or thoughts! 😊
The entire ALASCA team sincerely thanks you for the fantastic collaboration in 2024 and wishes you a Merry Christmas and a great start to the new year. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!
Cheers,
your ALASCA team
1) SMWA funding and vacancies
Good news from Saxony! 🎉 The Saxon State Ministry of Economy, Labor, and Transport (SMWA) has granted us funding that enables us to further develop and disseminate open-source software and cloud standards in Saxony. A huge thank you to all the supporters who have actively assisted us in submitting and implementing this project – without you, none of this would have been possible.
The best part: ALASCA actively involves regional organizations, universities, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and private individuals in the development process. Together with the community, we work on innovative solutions and further develop open standards to promote broad access to digital technologies and strengthen digital sovereignty in Saxony.
The funding period runs from November 2024 to July 2026, and we are therefore looking for up to five new team members.
Curious about the job openings? Check it out here: alasca.cloud/jobs
We are glad if you share this information within your network!
Please check our for more details our press release .
2) 2025 - an important year for ALASCA's TSC
As we already informed you in our last Community Digest and through our social media channels, the members of ALASCA elected the first official Technical Steering Committee (TSC) in September. The TSC will play a key role in the association by guiding ALASCA's technical roadmap and evaluating new projects to be hosted by ALASCA. The year 2025 will be a key year to consolidate this role and define the associated processes.
3) Recent and upcoming ALASCA Tech-Talks
Last but not least for 2024: On Friday, November 29th, we held our final Tech Talk of the year. In their presentation "How to Quantify Digital Sovereignty," Anastasia Vöhringer and Marcel Beyer from DISQU provided a comprehensive overview of all relevant criteria for digital sovereignty and how to quantify them.
If you missed the tech talk, there's no reason to worry! All the highlights are waiting for you on our YouTube channel. If you find yourselves bored during the Christmas holidays, come by and check it out – there are plenty of interesting talks to discover! And get ready for even more tech talks in 2025!
Do you have an open-source project that you’re eager to share and discuss with the community? We are always on the lookout for interesting topics for our ALASCA Tech Talks! Feel free to reach out to us through our contact form. There you can also join our Tech Talk mailing list so you won’t miss any future talks!
4) Recap of 2024 and a short sneak peek at 2025
And that’s a wrap for 2024! We welcomed a lot of new members, took on exciting open-source projects within the association, elected a Technical Steering Committee responsible for developing ALASCA's technical roadmap, and participated in fantastic events both as organizers and attendees. We would say it was a great success!
Here are our top 3 highlights for 2024:
- We are proud to have won the Saxon Digital Award in the "Open Source" category for our project Krake! 🎉 Find out more!
- At the end of October, we brought the community together at the very first ALASCA Summit 2024. It was two exciting days at the German Hygiene Museum in Dresden, packed with presentations, workshops, and close exchanges on topics relevant to us.
- Thanks to the support from the SMWA, we can continue to promote the development, piloting, and dissemination of open-source software and cloud standards until June 2026 and even fill up to 5 new positions in the association – a real milestone!
And what’s coming next? We can hardly wait to see what 2025 has in store for us! Many great events are already in the planning! Interested in a little preview? At the end of March, there will be a roundtable with exciting experts on the topic of "Continuity on the Path to Digital Sovereignty." Additionally, we will be participating in FOSS Backstage in March, and our ALASCA Summit 2.0 is also on the horizon! And that’s just the beginning – there’s much more to come our way!
5) Christmas greetings from the board
After two amazing years, ALASCA has achieved numerous milestones – our expectations have been exceeded, and we can’t wait to see what comes next! Now is the perfect time to look back on a great year. A huge thank you to our community for all the exciting developments, open exchanges, and the commitment of each individual in supporting our mission: to strengthen digital sovereignty in Germany and Europe.
We are looking forward to the year 2025 with many new members, exciting projects, optimized club processes, and all the wonderful people who advance our open-source initiatives – all with a lot of passion and a healthy dose of joy in collaborating within the community!
Enjoy the festive Christmas season and have a great start into the new year!
Marius Feldmann
Board of Directors ALASCA e.V.
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Until next time, we wish you a good time.
