Open Source at CERN in 2026/2027

Friday 13 Nov 2026, 14:00 → 18:30 Europe/Zurich

503/1-001 - Council Chamber (CERN)

Giacomo Tenaglia (CERN)

CERN Open Source Community Event 2026

Join us for an afternoon celebrating open source at large: from open chips and open EDA tools that design them, to the health of the ecosystem that sustains it all, and the questions AI is raising for free software communities.

We as the CERN OSPO want to talk not just to, but with you: come hear what we've done and where we're headed in 2026/2027, then tell us what you want us to do. Bring your project, your ideas, your gripes. Lightning talk slots are open for showcasing your open-source work! Submit a proposal for a lightning talk using the Submit new abstract button below.

To facilitate networking and feedback we will be offering food and drinks after the event!

1 Welcome!

Speaker: Giacomo Tenaglia (CERN)

2 IHP openPDK, openADK and open-silicon MPW Offerings

This talk presents the latest developments and current status of IHP's openPDK, openADK, and open-silicon MPW activities, highlighting ongoing efforts to enable productive chip design using open-source EDA tools.

A particular focus is placed on recent improvements in analog and RF design flows, including the integration of open-source electromagnetic simulators, as well as the development of open Assembly Design Kits (openADKs) to support advanced packaging and heterogeneous integration. Ongoing open-source EDA tool and PDK developments within the EU project ODE4EC-AMS will also be presented.

In addition, we introduce IHP's open-silicon MPW offerings, providing accessible and cost-effective silicon manufacturing opportunities for open-source chip designs. The open-silicon concept provides access to all open-source designs manufactured within an MPW run, as well as the opportunity to access complete wafers for further evaluation and post processing.

Bio: René Scholz earned his Ph.D. in physics from MLU Halle-Wittenberg in 1999 after research on point defect diffusion in silicon and gallium arsenide at the MPI of Microstructure Physics. He joined IHP in 2001 for RF characterization and modeling of SiGe-HBTs, becoming group leader for Research & Prototyping Service in 2004. He manages the MPW Service, PDK development, and holds an MBA from European University Viadrina (2008). Recently, he has been actively contributing to projects driving the development of the open-source PDK and an open-source MPW service in IHP’s BiCMOS technology.

Speaker: René Scholz

3 Open-source EDA for chip design: where are we now, what is next?

Modern IC design is a complex process that involves several different specialized electronic design automation tools resulting in ICs that cost many millions to manufacture. Is it possible that we can use openly available tools for meaningful designs? Can open-source tools come close to or even surpass proprietary tools in terms of the performance of the chips designed using them? What is realistic to expect from these tools today, and where will they be in the near future? I will try to give my insight to these questions based on our experience and the recent Open Design Environments for European Chips (ODE4EC) project funded through Chips-JU.

Bio: Frank Gürkaynak is a senior scientist at ETH Zurich working with Luca Benini as part of the PULP platform team which has released a number of prominent open-source hardware projects. He also leads the Microelectronics Design Center which supports all IC Design activities at ETH Zurich, and has been involved in all aspects of chip design for more than 25 years.

Speaker: Frank Gürkaynak

4 Standing on the shoulders of giants. In winter. During a storm. With sharks.

We need to talk about the health of open source: which projects are thriving, which are struggling, and what risks the ecosystem may be facing. But how much of that picture can we actually observe, and how much is inference, anecdote or narrative? Drawing on GitHub’s perspective on the ecosystem, I ask what available signals there are and what they can and cannot tell us about open source in a world with changing legal requirements and opportunities.

Bio: Mathias Schindler is a senior manager at GitHub's Developer Policy team, working on cybersecurity, copyright and IT regulation. He is passionate about open source, open content and open collaboration. For over 15 years, he has been involved in EU legislation on copyright, transparency and open data, both as an employee at German NGOs and also as a staffer for several members of various parliaments in Europe. He likes and writes encyclopedias.

Speaker: Mathias Schindler

5 AI-assisted software engineering and Free Software communities: Tool of liberation or existential threat?

AI-assisted software engineering is rapidly and fundamentally altering how code is written, reviewed, and sustained. Beyond technical workflows, it is profoundly challenging the social dimensions of software development—forcing communities to reconsider how they evaluate, govern, and integrate AI-generated contributions. These questions have become central to heated debates across Free Software communities, such as Debian, as contributors grapple with quality, trust, and the ethics of assisted contributions.
Following an overview of current status, trends and capabilities in AI-assisted software engineering, this talk examines the emerging challenges and opportunities for Free Software communities, with a focus on Debian.

Bio: Lucas Nussbaum is a Debian Developer and former Debian Project Leader. He has been actively involved in recent Debian discussions regarding AI, and recently launched a service providing inference resources to Debian contributors.

Speaker: Lucas Nussbaum

16:05 Coffee break

CERN Community Projects

6 OSPO 2026 and 2027

7 Feedback and discussion

The OSPO needs your input: we do this for you, to help open-source projects. Please come with your ideas and concerns.
After the event, you can share your feedback by sending an email to Open.Source@cern.ch or at the forum.

17:30 Feedback, discussions, networking: food and drinks for everyone!