Responsible Open Source
Digital Sovereignty That Works
When procuring IT solutions for your public sector organisation, the same questions often arise:
Do we maintain control over our data?
Are we locking ourselves into one vendor long-term?
What happens if we want to switch - or have to?
Can we still trust this system in 5 or 10 years?
In short: Is this a reliable foundation for our digital infrastructure?
The answer doesn't lie in Open Source alone. Open Source gives you transparency and avoids licensing traps - but that alone doesn't make you sovereign. Code is of little help if you can't operate, maintain, or adapt it. When security updates are missing. When no one ensures the solution stays current with new requirements.
Real sovereignty requires more than that: professional operations, open standards, and the freedom to switch providers.
Unsere Überzeugung: „Public Money? Then Public Code!“
Auf dieser Seite zeigen wir Ihnen, wie CIVORA das umsetzt
Our Approach to Open Source
With limited budgets, no city can afford to reinvent the wheel. Our Open Source approach makes well-designed, user-friendly solutions available to all municipalities.
Managed Open Source
Open Source is the foundation, but it only works in practice with reliable contacts, stable software, and fast support. That's Managed Open Source – and that's our responsibility.
Digital Sovereignty & Independence
Your data is yours. Technically, you can switch at any time. Open standards enable interoperability with other systems and municipalities.
What Does Open Source Mean at CIVORA?
Open code we take responsibility forCIVORA is Open Source. What this means for you:
You can view, audit, and customize the code
No software licensing fees
You can switch to another provider or operate it yourself
If you modify CIVORA, your changes must also be released as Open Source with DKSR as the original licensor. This ensures openness for all.
What We Release
Komponente | Lizenz | Ihre Vorteile |
CIVORA CORE (zentraler Data Hub) | Open Source (AGPL-3.0) | Keine Lizenzgebühren, volle Code-Transparenz, kein Vendor Lock-in |
CIVORA Urbane Datenplattform (Echtzeit-Datenverarbeitung & IoT) | Open Source (AGPL-3.0) | Andere Systeme anbinden, eigene Erweiterungen entwickeln, flexibel anpassen |
CIVORA Module & Funktionen
| Open Source (Lizenzen der Urheber der Module) | Bewährte Technologien nutzen, von Community-Entwicklungen profitieren, erleichtert Migration zu anderen Plattformen, die gleiche Komponenten verwenden |
Module aus Förderprojekten (z.B. Modellprojekte Smart Cities) | Open Source (AGPL-3.0) | Mit öffentlichen Geldern entwickelt – für alle nutzbar und anpassbar |
API-Dokumentation & Beispiel-Konfigurationen | öffentlich verfügbar | Volle Transparenz über Schnittstellen – keine versteckten Einschränkungen |
What We Don't Release (Yet)
Komponente | Warum nicht? | Für Sie bedeutet das |
Installations-Automatisierung (z. B. Helm-Charts & Betriebsartefakte) | Der Betrieb urbaner Datenplattformen ist komplex. Helm-Charts ohne Kontext können zu unsicheren Produktivumgebungen führen. | Sie erhalten eine sicher eingerichtete Plattform – wir kümmern uns um die komplexe Installation und Konfiguration. Wollen Sie selbst installieren? Wir zeigen Ihnen, wie es sicher geht. |
Kundenspezifische Konfigurationen | Aus Sicherheitsgründen – Zugangsdaten, spezifische Einstellungen, individuelle Integrationen gehören nicht auf öffentliche Plattformen | Sie bekommen selbstverständlich vollen Zugriff auf Ihre Konfigurationen – nur eben nicht öffentlich |
Bestimmte Premium-Module | Wir entwickeln strategische Innovationen, die dafür sorgen, dass CIVORA nutzerfreundlich und leistungsfähig ist. Diese finanzieren wir aus Eigenmitteln. Um 1:1-Kopien durch Wettbewerber zu verhindern, halten wir diese zeitlich befristet zurück. | Für Sie entstehen daraus keine Lizenzgebühren! |
Partner-Module | Spezialalgoritmen oder Modelle von Partnern, die CIVORA Use Cases unterstützen, können wir aufgrund von Lizenzvereinbarungen nicht veröffentlichen. | Sie profitieren von innovativen Lösungen unserer Partner, ohne sich um komplexe Lizenzierungen kümmern zu müssen. |
Kundenfinanzierte Spezialentwicklungen | Das ergibt sich aus dem Vertragsrecht – sie wurden exklusiv von einzelnen Kund*innen bezahlt und gehören diesen. | Sobald sie ins Standard-Produkt einfließen, werden sie Open Source. |
At a Glance
Is our Open Source approach procurement-compliant? Yes! 
AGPL-3.0 Lizenz
ist vom ITZBund anerkannt – volle TransparenzNo licensing fees
We generate revenue through services, consulting, projects, and strategic partnershipsTransparent Code
Published on OpenCoDE – full transparencyData Sovereignty & Independence
Your data is yours. Open standards and formats guarantee: always exportable, technically switchable at any time.Managed Open Source
Damit Open Source wirklich funktioniertOpen Source alone doesn't solve challenges: Who takes care of operations, maintenance, security, and ongoing development? Municipalities rarely have the resources for this.
What public sector organisations need alongside digital sovereignty to actually benefit from software:
- Dedicated points of contact – no referrals to communities or boards
- Professional maintenance – ongoing updates
- IT Security & Monitoring - quick response to security gaps
- Holistic guidance – consulting, training, strategy
- Stabile, gewartete Software – keine Beta-Versionen
- Fast support – professional and with Service Level Agreements
- Rapid decision-making – no time-consuming committee deliberations
- User-friendly software – intuitive, even for beginners
Digital Sovereignty & Independence
Open Source alone won't guarantee independence. A practical example: We're often asked to integrate cities' in-house developments into CIVORA. It rarely works: the solutions are too custom-built, lack standards, and can't be migrated.
The issue: The municipality stays dependent on the original developer – despite the code being open source.
What it takes for true digital sovereignty:
Professional operations
Ensuring stable operation, user-friendly design, and continuous development.
Open Standards & Interoperability
Enabling you to integrate with other systems, exchange data, and export whenever needed.
Freedom to Switch
Ensuring you can technically switch at any time and stay vendor-independent.
Below, we explain how open standards and freedom to switch work technically.
Open Standards and Interoperability as a Cornerstone
Making solutions transferable and enabling municipal collaboration- European metadata standards (DCAT-AP) - making your data readable and usable by other systems and municipalities
- Open interfaces (APIs following established standards) - enabling integration with your existing systems
- Standard data formats (CSV, JSON, GeoJSON) – your data can be exported at any time and used in other tools
- Proven open-source tools - established, well-documented software instead of experimental solutions
- Konform mit gängigen Daten-Standards (NGSI-LD, OGC)
Wechselfreiheit
So funktioniert's- All raw and enriched datasets - in open formats (CSV, JSON, GeoJSON)
- Metadata and catalogue entries – standards-compliant (DCAT-AP)
- Use cases and analytical models – portable as code (Python, Jupyter Notebooks)
- Dashboard code and visualisations – transferable to other tools (e.g. Grafana, Superset)
- API documentation and interfaces - specifications for your in-house developments
- User configurations and authorization structures – documented
This is what true digital sovereignty looks like: not merely access to source code, but complete portability of your data, dashboards, and configurations. You can migrate everything at any time – to a different provider, into your own infrastructure, or to a new project.
