Europe's cross-industry open source event expands with five high-impact collocated communities across AI, automotive, compliance, research, and tooling
BRUSSELS, Feb. 26, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Eclipse Foundation, one of the world's largest open source software organisations, has announced the full agenda for Open Community Experience (OCX 2026), taking place 21-23 April 2026 at The EGG conference centre in Brussels, Belgium.
OCX is the Foundation's flagship conference and one of Europe's leading gatherings for open source professionals, featuring nearly 150 sessions across six thematic tracks and five collocated communities. Over three dynamic days, developers, architects, researchers, and industry leaders will dive into the technologies, standards, and collaboration models shaping the next era of open innovation.
Following a successful debut in 2024, OCX 2026 returns with a significantly expanded technical program, growing from three to five collocated communities and increasing session volume by more than 35 percent. Each community offers deep domain expertise while connecting attendees to the broader open source ecosystem.
"Like the Eclipse Foundation itself, OCX 2026 continues to grow in scope, diversity, and depth," said Mike Milinkovich, executive director of the Eclipse Foundation. "As AI reshapes software development, software-defined vehicles transform mobility, and new regulations redefine accountability, open collaboration has never been more essential. This year's agenda reflects the real challenges and real opportunities facing our community."
What developers will find at OCX 2026
OCX 2026 delivers three days of practical engineering insight, strategic perspective, and meaningful community-driven collaboration.
Main OCX program: Cross-domain innovation in action
The core program brings together leading practitioners to address software security, enterprise Java evolution, embedded and edge computing, cloud-native architectures, governance, and cross-industry innovation. Sessions are grounded in real-world implementation and built for professionals shipping and scaling software. Attendees leave with actionable techniques, architectural insight, and proven approaches they can apply immediately.
Five collocated events within a single conference experience
OCX 2026 features five collocated events within the conference, each offering a concentrated experience for specific technical communities while remaining fully accessible with a single pass.
- Open Community for Tooling
Formerly EclipseCon, this event continues the legacy of one of the industry's most respected developer tooling communities. Topics include AI-assisted IDEs, modeling frameworks, language servers, next-generation workflows, and productivity engineering. If you build tools or depend on them to deliver high-performance software, this community is essential.
Speaker Highlights:
- Programming in Every Language: Building Cultural Tools with Langium - Malik Lanlokun
- AI in Action: The Ultimate Live Demo with Theia AI - Jonas Helming
- Open Community for Automotive
Open collaboration is accelerating the shift to software-defined vehicles. This event explores open standards, safety-conscious architectures, and real-world implementations. Engineers and platform architects will gain practical insight into the software foundations powering connected mobility.
Speaker Highlights:
- Diagnostics Reimagined: How Eclipse OpenSOVD Powers Open Collaboration and Standard Evolution - Thilo Schmitt & Alexander Mohr
- Fifty Shades of SDV: A Blueprint-Driven Roadmap for Orchestration Adoption - Naci Dai & Oliver Kral
- Open Community for AI
Open source is redefining how AI systems are built, validated, and governed. This event examines trustworthy AI frameworks, open model ecosystems, responsible governance strategies, data sharing and dataspaces, and production deployment lessons. Developers building production-grade AI systems will find both technical depth and forward-looking guidance.
Speaker Highlights:
- Commit to Quality: AI-Enhanced Testing in Open Source - Shelley Lambert & Longyu Zhang
- Understanding Machine Decisions - Haishi Bai
- Open Community for Compliance
With regulations such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) raising expectations for secure software, compliance is now a core engineering concern. This event equips teams with practical strategies for security, licensing, and regulatory alignment without slowing innovation. If you deliver software into the European market, this content is critical.
Speaker Highlights:
- Taming the SBOM Chaos - A Legal Compass for the CRA and Open Source Compliance - Hendrik Schöttle
- Layered Compliance: Using the Swiss Cheese Model to Prevent Catastrophic Failure - Georg Link
- Open Community for Research
Presented in collaboration with the Apereo Foundation and academic partners, this event demonstrates how open source accelerates the path from research to scalable, real-world systems. Topics include reproducibility, open science practices, and production-ready implementations bridging academia and industry.
Speaker Highlights:
- VOStack open-source Software Stack for the virtualization of IoT devices - Anastasios Zafeiropoulos
- UniTime Overview: From Research to Practice - Tomas Muller
Featured keynote speakers
OCX 2026 brings together perspectives from high-performance sport, European digital policy, and global open source leadership.
- Ruth Buscombe - Formula 1 race strategist and F1TV analyst, Buscombe opens the conference with "The Winning Formula: What F1 Teaches Us About Marginal Gains, Teamwork, and Data-Driven Decision Making." Her keynote connects the precision of elite motorsport with the collaborative performance culture of open source communities.
- Rolf Riemenschneider - Head of Sector IoT at the European Commission, Riemenschneider leads research and innovation under Horizon Europe, coordinating strategy for Cloud-Edge Computing and the Internet of Things. His keynote will explore Europe's digital trajectory and the role of open technologies in strategic data spaces.
- Mike Milinkovich - Executive Director of the Eclipse Foundation since 2004, Milinkovich is a long-standing open source leader who has served on the boards of the Open Source Initiative, the OpenJDK community, and the Executive Committee of the Java Community Process. He will share insight on the evolving role of open collaboration in a rapidly shifting technology landscape.
Register now and be part of what's next
OCX 2026 is built for developers, architects, researchers, and decision-makers driving modern software forward. One registration unlocks the entire experience, including the main program and all five co-located events.
- Review the agenda
- Plan your sessions
- Secure your place at OCX 2026 and register now.
Discounted registration rates are available until March 16. Capacity at The EGG conference centre is limited, and early registration is recommended.
Thanks to our sponsors
OCX 2026 is made possible through the generous support of our sponsors, including,SAP, TypeFox,EclipseSource,Obeo, and Equo Tech, Inc, AzAzulETAS, Eurotech, and Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation GmbH. Their leadership and commitment to open source innovation help drive collaboration across industries and strengthen the global open source ecosystem. We sincerely thank all of our sponsors for their partnership and commitment.
Organisations interested in supporting OCX 2026 and engaging with the global open source ecosystem are invited to contact sponsors@OCXconf.org to request sponsorship information and review thesponsorship prospectus.
About the Eclipse Foundation
The Eclipse Foundation provides a global community of individuals and organisations with a vendor-neutral, business-friendly environment for open source collaboration and innovation. We host Adoptium, the Eclipse IDE, Jakarta EE, Open VSX, Software Defined Vehicle, and more than 400 high-impact open source projects. Headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, we are an international non-profit association supported by over 300 members. Our events, including Open Community Experience (OCX), bring together developers, industry leaders, and researchers from around the world. To learn more, follow us on X and LinkedIn, or visit eclipse.org.
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