SURF and Nextcloud

Getting started with Nextcloud

Nextcloud is an open-source collaboration platform. More and more organisations from all sectors are starting to use Nextcloud. In this way, we are exploring alternatives to big tech applications as a sector.

Sign your institution up for Nextcloud within our cooperative

We are delighted that you want to help promote Nextcloud in education and research. From the beginning of 2026, we will be rolling out the Nextcloud collaboration environment more widely among our members. 

Interested in joining the pilot?  
Please let your CSC contact your institute contact person or e-mail Claudia van Kruistum. 

Sign up for the newsletter and stay up to date with all the latest news regarding the pilot samenwerkingsomgeving@list.surf.nl 

What else are we doing?

SURF has been gaining experience with Nextcloud for some time now. Four years ago, a delegation of SURF members visited Nextcloud to assess whether this collaborative environment could be promising for education and research.

Pilots are currently running in various locations to gain experience with the collaboration environment. For example, the AlgoSoc research consortium works with Nextcloud via SURF, across the boundaries of the five participating universities.

A Nextcloud pilot is also running within SURF, so that employees can gain experience and better understand what users and the IT organisation at our members experience.

Read more about the Nextcloud pilot
 

Digital sovereignty

Digital sovereignty is an important theme within the SURF cooperative. Since our foundation, we have been guided by important public values such as accessibility, reliability, freedom of choice and privacy. In recent years, there has been a growing awareness that we need to take more control of our digitisation solutions based on public values such as autonomy, humanity and justice.

SURF has initiatives at various levels that increase the digital sovereignty of the sector. Examples include the AI hub, investments in research infrastructure and exploring the possibilities of PeerTube.

The roll-out and pilots with Nextcloud are part of this. These initiatives are intended to investigate how this collaborative environment contributes to strengthening the digital sovereignty and collective autonomy of education and research.