About NGI Zero
Paving the way to the Next Generation Internet
Image: Daniel Thompson-Yvetot, entire attribution.The internet has grown very important to our societies, but there is much to be improved — and in many places we need fundamentally better technologies to protect our security, our privacy and our way of life. NGI Zero is a joint not-for-profit effort by a coalition of organisations that supports the development of technology commons as building blocks for the Next Generation Internet initiative. NGI Zero is led by NLnet foundation, a public benefit organisation established by pioneers of the European internet to support the development of an open information society.
NGI Zero supports strategic technology R&D, more in particular the development of free/libre/open source software and hardware, and the establishment of open standards and open data - technologies that can be used, studied, modified and shared by anyone for any purpose. Through these five programmes a total of over 50 million euro is being granted to hundreds of independent researchers and open source developers working on a better internet. Another programme — NGI Zero Review — supports the wider NGI community with various services that help to mature these technology commons.
NGI Zero grant programmes
The current grant programmes run by NGI Zero are:
- NGI0 Core
Moving the architecture of the Internet and openness of technology forward
A light-weight grant programme available to both individuals and organisations of any type. Check out the programme description. - NGI0 Commons Fund
Reclaim the public nature of the internet
Small and medium-sized R&D grants between 5.000 and 50.000 euro, with the possibility to scale up. Available to both individuals and organisations of any type. You can apply at any time in the rolling open calls with a deadline every two months. - NGI0 Entrust
Trustworthiness and Data Sovereignty
A light-weight grant programme available to both individuals and organisations of any type. The programme is in its closing phase and the final call has closed. Check out the ongoing projects funded by NGI0 Entrust.
Support services offered by NGI Zero
- NGI Zero Review
Supporting quality and maturity of digital commons
The NGI Zero coalition offers support services to free and open source projects such as accessibility and security audits, community building and mentoring, copyright and license due diligence, packaging and more. Note that this fund is only open to projects which have received funding within the Next Generation Internet initiative.
Next Generation Internet initiative
NGI Zero is part of a key initiative by the European Commission centered around establishing a Next Generation Internet. This "internet of the future" should be able to address the many security, privacy and operational issues of todays internet. If we have the freedom to re-imagine and re-engineer the internet, how can we make a future version of it be more inclusive and bring out the best in all of us? For some insights into the impact of the NGI initiative, see the 2024 study by Gartner Europe.
Previous grant programmes run by NGI Zero:
- NGI0 PETnote
Privacy and Trust Enhancing Technologies
Check out the overview of projects.
Download discover free, reliable software such as Cryptpad, Sylk, WireGuard and EteSync. - NGI0 Discoverynote
Search, discovery and discoverability
Check out the overview of projects.
Learn about free, interesting new tools such as Searx, F-Droid, Pixelfed and Open Food Facts.
Note that if you are interested in NGI Zero, you also might be interested in NGI Assure. NGI Assure was a programme that ran from 2020 to 2024, with the aim to make the internet more reliable and trustworthy through open source building blocks that provide strong assurances. Check out the list of projects that took place within the scope of NGI Assure.
Who is behind NGI Zero?
NGI0 consists of a world class coalition of not-for-profit organizations that support the researchers and developers with their expertise on security and code quality, accessibility (making technology available to everyone, including people with disabilities), localisation/internationalisation (to increase language diversity on the internet), packaging and reproducible builds, documentation, responsible disclosure, diversity, community building and more.
See all the coalition partners involved across all programmes. Or check out the partners per programme below.
Free resources from NGI Zero
Best practices for secure, accessible, localized, inclusive technology
While the focus of NGI Zero is on producing relevant technological building blocks, we are happy to share the things we learned too. The lessons learned and best practices developed by NGI Zero are publicly available for everyone to learn from and build on. Below you can find the currently available documentation. We will keep this this page up to date when new content becomes available, so you why not bookmark this page:
- Guidance for localization and internationalization of software, multimedia content and websites by Translate House
- Guide for secure software development by TIMIT
- Starter on everyday operational security by Radically Open Security
- Documentation about software standardization and how the process of standardizing works by the Network Security Group of ETH Zürich
- Resources for Free Software by Petites Singularités and the Center for Cultivation of Technology
- Diversity and Inclusion Guide by Maja Kraljic
- Questions and answers about forking and trademarks by ifrOSS
- Frequently Asked Questions on free software licensing by Free Software Foundation Europe
FSFE with the help of ifrOSS have prepared the following best practices and tutorials on software licensing, compliance, trademarks:
- Best Practices for Software Licensing
- Compliance Workflow
- REUSE Initiative Tutorial
- Free Software Contribution Policy
- Free Software Licenses and Compatibility Matrix
- Trademark Policy Guidelines
- Legal To-Dos for FOSS projects
- EU Export Control Regime and Free Software
Acknowledgements
Image attribution: Map of Europe overlayed with hexes of NGI Zero projects. Creator: Daniel Thompson-Yvetot.
NGI Zero is made possible with financial support from the European Commission's Next Generation Internet programme, under the aegis of DG Communications Networks, Content and Technology. NGI Zero receives funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under grant agreements No 825310, 825322, 101069594, 101070519, 101092990 and 101135429.