Next Generation Internet initiative

Today, the Internet is key to almost any social or economic activity. It is a true value creator that has reshaped the economy and society. This trend is irreversible and the Internet’s essential role for society and the economy worldwide will continue to increase.

However, concerns about personal data protection and transparency remain significant. There is also a growing demand for the Internet to provide better services and greater user empowerment in shaping up their own online experience. Therefore, it is crucial that the next generation of the Internet puts people at its centre, so that it can meet its full potential for both the society and the economy.

The Next Generation Internet (NGI) initiative aims to put in place the key technological building blocks of tomorrow’s Internet.

It envisions a future Internet as an interoperable platform ecosystem that embodies the values that Europe holds dear: openness, inclusivity, transparency, privacy, cooperation, and protection of data. Key priorities of the initiative include promoting freedom of choice, enhance safety and security, advancing sustainability, and foster active participation in the digital public space. The goal is to empower users with a broad range of open-source decentralised digital solutions, in accordance with the European Digital Rights and Principles.

Moreover, NGI has a significant impact on shaping a sustainable, sovereign Open-Source technology landscape in Europe that aligns with EU policies and values. To achieve this, NGI provides financial support to grass-root projects covering all layers of the Internet, ranging from open hardware, networking and transport technologies, firmware, operating systems and virtualisation, electronic identities and middleware, decentralised ledgers, software productivity tools, to over-the-top (OTT) and vertical applications.

Additionally, NGI projects play a significant role in enabling a wide range of EU legislation, with a strong focus on supporting compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), the Digital Services Act (DSA) and Digital Market Act (DMA), the Cyber Resilience Act, EU digital identity initiatives, ensuring freedom of choice online and supporting the concept of digital commons.

Building an NGI ecosystem

Pioneering researchers, developers, high-tech SMEs and start-ups developed the key building blocks of the internet as we know it today. NGI aspires to revitalise and maintain this ecosystem of innovators to build the internet of tomorrow.

Through a number of ongoing NGI projects the cascade funding mechanism is used to fund a large number of highly talented grass-root innovators who are actually changing the course of the internet.

Supporting sovereignty, trust, and European values

The NGI initiative is contributing to the protection of European values expressed by the European Declaration on Digital Rights and Principles, (such as privacy protection, user control and choice, inclusion, decentralisation) and the vision of an open, free, global, interoperable, reliable and secure internet as set out in the Declaration for the future of the internet.

NGI is among the EU initiatives that directly contribute to the development and uptake of digital commons in the area of internet technologies.