Open source alternative for collaboration and document management
Education and research move forward with Nextcloud
Strengthening digital sovereignty
In recent years, digital sovereignty has become a growing issue within and outside our cooperative. Due to the dominance of a few large tech companies, our independence and public values are coming under increasing pressure. To strengthen our digital sovereignty, we are exploring alternative applications, such as Nextcloud. This is a collaboration platform for word processing, document sharing, e-mail integration, and online meetings.
All sectors are involved
Our interest survey showed that there is broad interest within our cooperative in using Nextcloud. Institutions from all sectors are joining: various universities, universities of applied sciences, vocational colleges (mbo), university medical centres (UMCs), and research institutes. Researchers, teachers, and other employees will take part. One mbo institution has also signed up with students.
Interested in joining Nextcloud?
With the roll-out among our members, we will gain broader practical experience with Nextcloud. We want to test it in everyday practice, to experience how teams work together in this environment. That is why there is a minimum of 20 applications per member institution before you can get started with Nextcloud.
Participation will be possible from January 2026. Additional apps or functionalities may be added in the future, such as AI applications like EduGenAI or GPT-NL. Initially, we will offer Nextcloud for one year, alongside the regular collaboration platforms. Are you interested?
Sign up for the pilot