News
Promoting Europe's Independence
in Web Search
For the OpenWebSearch.EU initiative, 14 European Research Centers have joined forces to develop an open European infrastructure for web search. With the EU project the initiative will be contributing to Europe’s digital sovereignty as well as promoting an open human-centered search engine market.
Funded by the
European Union
The project OpenWebSearch.EU has received funding from the European Union's Horizon research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 101070014.
#ossym23 – Submit your papers and save the date for 5th International Symposium on Open Search
#ossym23: Call for papers is open until 31st May In October 2023, the Open Search community will gather at CERN in Geneva for its autumn meeting. Papers on research and best practice projects can be submitted until the end of May 2023. For the fifth time, #ossym will provide a forum to discuss and further […]
“OpenWebSearch.EU is an open project where others can contribute” – Interview about the third-party calls of openwebsearch.eu
A trustworthy search that protects the personal data of its users and integrates European laws: That is the goal of OpenWebSearch.EU. The plan also includes bringing external research groups and companies on board. To this end, a total of three so-called third-party calls are planned. The first public call ends on 28 April. What is […]
“Basis for a thousand search engines – The EU wants to build a public web index by 2025” | c’t
“Does it always have to be Google or Bing? With the OpenWebSearch project, the EU wants to protect its sovereignty on the Internet. The goal is a freely accessible web directory that feeds diverse search engines and language models and should trigger a boom in new web services.” In the German IT and tech magazine […]
Third-Party Call #1: Media Release
First EU project on Open Web Search launches third-party call – An invitation to advance R&D for a new Internet Search in Europe OpenWebSearch.EU – a consortium of 14 research partners – is open for third-party proposals to help building an Open and independent Web-Index based on European values (OWI). The first call addresses business […]
Third-Party Call #1: Announcement
First third-party Call has launched The OpenWebSearch.eu project consortium is eager to identify new project teams to be funded under the OpenWebSearch.eu Community Programme, on-board and integrate them into ongoing and future activities for sustainable Research and Development on Open Web Search. Third-party activities are driving forces in the OpenWebSearch.eu Community Programme, with funding provided […]
Third-Party Call 1: Pre-Announcement
OpenWebSearch.eu “Piloting a Cooperative Open Web Search Infrastructure to Support Europe’s Digital Sovereignty” Third-Party Call for Proposals: Call 1 Pre-Announcement OpenWebSearch.EU will call for proposal to help us building an open and independent Web-index. The call will open on 1st of March 2023 and invites researchers and innovators to submit their applications to join our […]
“The Open Web Search project, Interview Michael Granitzer” | Deutschlandfunk
“Transparency means that everyone has the same information, with the same effort, which – in my opinion – then makes it fairer.” – Prof. Dr. Michael Granitzer from University of Passau, project lead of openwebsearch.eu, in a short radio interview with Manfred Kloiber from Deutschlandfunk.
“Missing link: Open web index to make Europe independent in searching” | California18
“With a market share of over 90 percent, Google is regularly the number one search engine in Europe. Since 2004, googling has been officially listed as a verb in the dictionary and stands for searching or researching on the Internet with the application of the subsidiary of the US umbrella company Alphabet. As the gateway […]
“Missing Link: Open web index to make Europe independent in searching” | heise online
“With a publicly viewable source code, I can learn and, more importantly, verify exactly what the search engine is storing about me” – Wolfgang Sander-Beuermann from Suma e.V., a project partner of openwebsearch.eu, and many other voices of the OpenWebSearch.EU’s project resp. of the Open Search Community have their say at heise online. Find the […]
“Starnbergers against Google power: How the Open Search Foundation wants to change the internet” | Merkur
In the German daily “Merkur”, Christine Plote and Dr Stefan Voigt, board members of the Open Search Foundation, one of openwebsearch.eu’s project partners, talk about Open Search and the EU project openwebsearch.eu.
Video – Connect University Online Session: “Open Web Search. Boosting Europe’s digital independence and economy”
In a Connect University webinar, Dr. Stefan Voigt (Open Search Foundation and German Aerospace Center/DLR), Prof. Dr. Michael Granitzer (University of Passau and project leader openwebsearch.eu) and Isabell Claus (founder thinkers.ai), moderated by Christine Plote (Open Search Foundation), shed light on the topic of open search and the background and potential of the openwebsearch.eu project. […]
TED-Talk “Navigating the Entangled Web”: Dr. Tim Smith of CERN explains the benefits of Open Web Search
Dr. Tim Smith, head of Collaboration and Information Services at CERN, one of OpenWebSearch.EU’s project partners, gives an overview of Internet search and its downsides in his TED Talk at Tedxverbier.ch. In his talk, he uses examples from physics to illustrate the necessity of an open web index. Among other things, he discusses CERN’s flagship, […]
“Another attempt to create a European Google: the Czech Republic joins OpenWebSearch ” | Lupa.cz
“In Europe, more plans are afoot to create a local web search engine that would weaken the dominant Google. In September, the OpenWebSearch project was set in motion, involving fourteen European research and supercomputing centres. Among them is the Czech national supercomputing centre IT4Innovations in Ostrava. However, Germany holds the majority role in the project.” […]
“Europe builds its own internet search engine” | OI Canadian
OI Canadian | 21 September 2022 “The OpenWebSearch.EU project is working on a European alternative to Google in the field of online search To foster an open and human-centric search engine market” Read the full article at OI Canadian: https://oicanadian.com/the-openwebsearch-eu-project-is-working-on-a-european-alternative-to-google-in-the-field-of-online-search-to-foster-an-open-and-human-centric-search-engine-market/
OpenWebSearch.EU has officially kicked-off
OpenWebSearch.EU has kicked-off with a consortium meeting in Berlin. 46 participants got together in a hybrid meeting format to exchange ideas and make plans for the successful execution of the project. The meeting was hosted by DLR-PT in a new building in Berlin-Südkreuz. The opening session was kicked off by greetings from Dieter Kranzmüller (BADW-LRZ), […]
“Europe builds its own internet search engine” | Tiroler Tageszeitung
Tiroler Tageszeitung | 28 August 2022 “The European answer to Google and Co. should be more open and at the same time better protect privacy. Austrian researchers are also involved. Google, Microsoft Bing, Baidu, Yandex – the search for information on the internet is dominated by only a few private providers. With the support of […]
“EU researchers want to revolutionise search on the internet” | Niederösterreichische Nachrichten
Niederösterreichische Nachrichten | 24 August 2022 “Google, Microsoft Bing, Baidu,Yandex – the search for information on the internet is dominated by only a few private providers. With the support of the EU’s Horizon Europe funding programme, a European alternative to the market-dominating providers is to be developed. 14 research and computing centres in Europe are […]
“Digital sovereignty: EU project for independent web searching” | alphagalileo
Article on AlphaGalileo (paywall): https://www.alphagalileo.org/en-gb/Item-Display/ItemId/224269?returnurl=https://www.alphagalileo.org/en-gb/Item-Display/ItemId/224269
“Searching the Internet – European researchers want to break Google monopoly” | Kronenzeitung
Kronenzeitung | 24 August 2022 “Google, Microsoft Bing, Baidu, Yandex – the search for information on the internet is dominated by a few private providers. Google in particular has a near-monopoly with more than 87 per cent market share on smartphones. With the support of the EU’s Horizon Europe funding programme, a European alternative to […]
More privacy, fewer ads: European universities join hands for alternative search engine | Scientias
Scientias | 20 August 2022 “An alternative to Google, without the annoying ads and while maintaining privacy, it is something we all want but do not think possible. Or is it perhaps possible? European research centers are going to make a joint attempt.” Article with an interview of Arjen de Vries. Read the full article […]
“European project OpenWebSearch.EU launched: European infrastructure for web search” | Kooperation International
“Over the next three years, more than 75 scientists will be researching the core of a European Open Web Index (OWI) as the basis for a new web search in Europe. The aim of the programme is to push back the dominance of non-European internet corporations, such as Google or Microsoft. The project is funded […]
“Shaping the web search of the future” | IDW – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
IDW – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft | 28 July 2022 “Shaping the web search of the future: Weimar computer science is part of the large-scale project “OpenWebSearch.EU”. “Für das Projekt »OpenWebSearch.EU« wird die Webis-Gruppe um Prof. Dr. Benno Stein, Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Prof. Dr. Martin Potthast, Universität Leipzig, und Prof. Matthias Hagen, Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg, mit elf weiteren renommierten […]
“An open web search is the key to a free and diverse society.” Interview with Dr. Martin Potthast | Leipzig University
Interview with Dr. Martin Potthast from University Leipzig on the importance of the research project OpenWebSearch.eu Read the interview (German) at: https://www.uni-leipzig.de/newsdetail/artikel/leipziger-informatik-forscht-am-openwebsearcheu-2022-07-29
Promoting Europe’s Independence in Web Search: 14 European Research Centers join forces
For the OpenWebSearch.EU project, 14 renowned European research and computer centers have joined forces to develop an open European infrastructure for web search. The project will be contributing to Europe’s digital sovereignty as well as promoting an open human-centered search engine market. The European Commission has now approved the project’s Horizon Europe funding of 8,5 […]