The founders of the foundation want to play a pioneering role in the future topic of open source. "The digitalization of logistics can only be advanced together. This is why open source is an important success factor for the entire logistics industry and at the same time a driver for standardized processes in digital value chains. We see the establishment of the Open Logistics Foundation as the first step towards a platform economy based on European legal standards and values. It is both a start and an appeal to logistics to think technology and processes together and to actively participate in the open source community," said the founders in a joint statement. Now it is a matter of anchoring open source in logistics and creating the internal structures for working with the corresponding hardware and software.

The foundation is aimed at all logistics-related companies and their IT developers. It is open to new members from all areas of logistics via its Open Logistics e.V. support association, which was also founded in Berlin. Numerous companies have already announced their participation in the association, including AEB, BLG Logistics Group, GS1 Germany, Lobster Logistics Cloud and Bochum-based Setlog Holding, as well as associations such as the Fraunhofer Society for the Promotion of Applied Research.

The core of the foundation's work is the operation of the Open Logistics Repository, a technical platform on which software and hardware, interfaces, reference implementations and components are available open source under a permissive license. In order to promote broad acceptance within logistics, all tools and components will be free of charge and can be used without restriction for commercial applications. Companies can use them to expand their own platforms, for example, or to set up new products and business models more quickly.

The foundation's main tasks also include selecting collaborative projects whose developments are to be included in the repository. It monitors the quality of the open source software and guarantees neutrality in its development. It also offers training courses for companies on how to use the platform.