Sovereign Tech Agency and Software Heritage partner to safeguard critical open-source software
PARIS January 28, 2026 — The Sovereign Tech Agency and Software Heritage today announced a collaboration to ensure that critical open-source projects supported by the Sovereign Tech Fund are systematically archived, establishing permanent preservation as a standard for these projects. This partnership between Germany and France, where the respective organizations are based, marks a significant step toward preserving the digital commons for future generations.
Fortifying the foundation of the digital economy
Open source software underpins much of today’s digital infrastructure. Yet the source code of many critical projects remains at risk of disappearing due to platform changes, project abandonment, or data loss. Through this collaboration, projects supported by the Sovereign Tech Fund will be safeguarded in the Software Heritage Archive—the world’s largest collection of publicly available source code.
“Open source maintainers build the foundations of our digital world, often without institutional support or long-term preservation guarantees,” said Adriana Groh, managing director of the Sovereign Tech Agency. “By partnering with Software Heritage, we ensure that the projects we invest in remain accessible, traceable, and preserved for the long term—protecting both the code and the story of its development.”
“Archiving source code is not just about storage—it’s about preserving knowledge, enabling research, and ensuring that the work of open source communities is never lost,” said Roberto Di Cosmo, Director of Software Heritage. “This collaboration with the Sovereign Tech Agency demonstrates how public institutions can take concrete action to protect critical digital infrastructure.”
Software Heritage is a non-profit, global initiative launched in 2016 by Inria in collaboration with UNESCO, with the mission to collect, preserve, and share all publicly available software in source code form. It serves as a universal, long-term archive of human-readable source code, aiming to safeguard software as a vital part of our cultural, scientific, and technological heritage.
The Archive is a global commons open to everyone. Any developer or organization can save their source code to ensure its long-term preservation and generate a persistent SWHID for secure referencing and citation. The Archive, now celebrating its 10th year, was recently named a digital public good.