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Topic index

Stichting NLnet is a recognised public benefit organisation that works towards an open and inclusive information society. NLnet believes that the most effective way to achieve this, is through providing microgrants to talented individuals and to organisations that are aligned with its mission. An important focus of NLnet lies with research and development in the domain of network technology and the internet, in particular those that serve the end user and the long-term interests of end users.

NLnet has funded many projects throughout the years, in many different areas. The quite dense index below is probably not the most convenient way to browse our portfolio, but if you already know what you are looking for it can be helpful to navigate themes and funds in this way. Click on the theme or fund name to navigate to a more readable page with more elaborate project descriptions, or visit the overview of all projects and use the live filter to drill down to topics or funds of interest.

  • ActivityPub

    Federated social network
    112 projects.

  • Application protocols

    Network application protocols
    28 projects.

  • Binary Analysis Fund

    Derive knowledge from binary blobs such as firmwares
    4 projects.

  • Community Programs

    Support for advancing research and development internet communities
    16 projects.

  • Conferences

    Sponsored conferences and other events aiming at dissemination of internet knowledge and technology.
    3 projects.

  • Data and AI

    Data and AI
    112 projects.

  • Decentralised solutions

    Decentralised solutions, including blockchain/distributed ledger
    116 projects.

  • Deployability

    Making sure applications can be put to use in a sane, convenient way
    3 projects.

  • e-Commons Fund

    Contributing to digital commons and digital public goods
    5 projects.

  • EDA

    Electronic Design Automation
    27 projects.

  • Educational Programs

    Projects aiming at using Internet technology within the educational sector.
    9 projects.

  • Email

    Email clients and servers
    25 projects.

  • FileSender

    Server application to send files of arbitrary size
    8 projects.

  • GetEduroam

    A modern way to manage and deploy federated wifi roaming
    2 projects.

  • Hardware

    Trustworthy hardware and manufacturing.
    145 projects.

  • Information Retrieval

    Projects primarily related to internet information retrieval technologies.
    12 projects.

  • Internet Hardening Fund

    Projects funded from the Internet Hardening Fund
    26 projects.

  • Internet Infrastructure

    Protocols and software for managing and advancing low-level internet infrastructure
    52 projects.

  • Measurement

    Measurement, monitoring, analysis and abuse handling
    49 projects.

  • Middleware and identity

    Middleware + identity, including DNS, authorisation, authentication, distribution/deployment, operations, reputation systems
    104 projects.

  • Network Applications

    Software application development projects based upon Internet technology.
    21 projects.

  • Network infrastructure

    Network infrastructure incl. routing, P2P and VPN
    98 projects.

  • NGI Assure

    Projects that make security and trustworthiness easier
    NGI Assure was a grant programme that ran from 2020-2024, funding projects making security and trustworthiness easier, as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Assure.
    151 projects.

  • NGI Fediversity Fund

    Creating the hosting stack of the future
    10 projects.

  • NGI Mobifree Fund

    More ethical and human mobile software
    26 projects.

  • NGI TALER Fund

    Privacy-preserving digital payments
    27 projects.

  • NGI Zero Core

    NGI0 core is a grant programme funding projects moving the internet forward, at the architecture level and above, as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Zero Core.
    246 projects.

  • NGI Zero Discovery

    NGI0 Discovery was a grant programme that ran from 2018-2022, funding projects enabling search and discovery as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Zero Discovery.
    146 projects.

  • NGI Zero PET

    NGI0 PET was a grant programme that ran from 2018-2022, funding projects working on enhancing privacy and trust of internet and related technologies as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Zero PET.
    145 projects.

  • NGI0 Commons Fund

    NGI0 Commons Fund is a grant programme funding projects about reclaiming the public nature of the internet, as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Zero Commons Fund.
    429 projects.

  • NGI0 Entrust

    Trustworthiness and data sovereignty
    NGI0 Entrust was a grant programme that ran from 2022-2026, funding projects working towards trustworthiness and data sovereignty, as part of the Next Generation Internet initiative of the European Commission. For a more complete description see the home page of the fund: NGI Zero Entrust.
    241 projects.

  • NREN

    Projects relevant to the research and higher education community
    2 projects.

  • Open Social Fund

    Promoting the healthy development of the Fediverse
    8 projects.

  • OpenData

    Projects to facilitate the creation, collection and curation of free information.
    16 projects.

  • OpenDocument Format

    Enable future proof office documents.
    34 projects.

  • Operating Systems

    Operating Systems, firmware and virtualisation
    119 projects.

  • Privacy and security

    Projects to understand, safeguard and/or improve privacy and security in communication.
    51 projects.

  • Reports and studies

    Research to advance the knowledge on themes relevant to NLnet
    3 projects.

  • Services + Applications

    Services + Applications (e.g. email, instant messaging, video chat, collaboration)
    237 projects.

  • SimpleSAMLphp Fund

    Authentication and Identity Provisioning
    2 projects.

  • Software engineering

    Software engineering, protocols, interoperability, cryptography, algorithms, proofs
    208 projects.

  • User-operated Internet Fund

    Allow users to collectively own, operate and rewrite every aspect of the technology and network infrastructure they depend on.
    10 projects.

  • Verticals + Search

    Vertical use cases, Search, Community
    113 projects.

  • VPN Fund

    Supporting the development of reliable, libre VPN technologies
    8 projects.

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