About us
Hendrik Ebbers founded the OpenElements GmbH in 2022 to create a company that strengthens open source and open collaboration with a strong focus on the Java ecosystem.
Our Engagements
The Eclipse Foundation is a significant player in the open-source ecosystem, enabling both individual open-source enthusiasts and large and small companies to collaborate on an equal footing. The Foundation provides central and independent management for open-source projects. As a “Contributing Member”, OpenElements contributes to the successful work of the Foundation and its projects. Furthermore, Hendrik Ebbers is a member of the Board of Directors of the Eclipse Foundation.
Within the Java ecosystem, Eclipse Adoptium is one of the most important top-level projects of the Eclipse Foundation, as it provides free and enterprise-ready LTS versions of Java. As a “Participant Member”, OpenElements particpates in the Working Group.
Even before the existence of the Eclipse Adoptium Working Group, the idea was born in AdoptOpenJDK to provide vendor-neutral and freely available Java binaries. OpenElements is part of the project and has a seat on the Technical Steering Committee (TSC).
The founder of OpenElements GmbH had already contributed to the Java Enterprise Specifications before JavaEE was transferred to the Eclipse Foundation and became JakartaEE. The switch to the Eclipse Foundation was very successful, as the standards for Enterprise Java can now be defined in a 100% vendor-neutral environment. As a “Participant Member”, OpenElements continues to work on the standardization of Enterprise APIs for Java.
Open source has become a fundamental component in most IT departments, and the establishment of an Open Source Program Office (OSPO) is an important step for companies today. In the OSPO Alliance, OpenElements uses knowledge exchange to define best practices and structures for setting up Open Source Program Offices.
The Java Community Process (JCP) is the formalized process for defining new standards and specifications for Java in so-called Java Specification Requests (JSRs). OpenElements is part of the expert group of several JSRs and has, for example, contributed to the standardization and specification of Java Bean Validation.
Open collaboration is an essential aspect of our lives, and Wikipedia is the most famous example of such collaboration. OpenElements financially supports the Wikimedia Foundation monthly to promote this important project.
Today, almost every software depends on open-source components. But unfortunately, such components are often not recognized or analyzed. Therefore, there have been cases where critical software depends on a component that is no longer maintained or only maintained by a handful of individuals. OpenElements supports such projects individually through GitHub Sponsorship.
With more than 20 events, Cyberland is a series of free online events for the Java community - with a strong emphasis on inclusion and diversity. For example, there have been several Ladiesnight mini-conferences, where IT topics are presented exclusively by female speakers, or the Newcomer events, where new speakers are given a platform for their first IT talks. Hendrik Ebbers is the founder of Cyberland and continues to be a member of the organization.
JavaLand is not only the largest Java conference in the German-speaking area but also one of the few community conferences. Hendrik Ebbers heads the program committee of JavaLand and is a member of the conference management.
The JUG Dortmund was founded in 2012 by Hendrik Ebbers together with Ansgar Brauner. Since then, Hendrik has been co-responsible for managing the Dortmund JUG and organizes free lecture series and meetups - together with locally based IT companies.
In iJUG e.V., all Java User Groups in Germany are united. As the leader of the JUG Dortmund, Hendrik Ebbers is actively involved and also contributes to the leadership of various projects of the iJUG, such as JavaLand or Cyberland.
The Open Regulatory Compliance Working Group (ORC WG) aims to facilitate compliance of all open source actors with regulatory requirements.
Hiero, a Linux Foundation Decentralized Trust project, is an open-source, vendor-neutral distributed ledger technology. Hiero is used to build the Hedera public ledger., Hendrik Ebbers is actively involved and also contributes to the Hiero.
Our Customers & Partners
Hedera is the company behind the Hedera Hashgraph, the only public distributed ledger based on the Hashgraph algorithm. Hedera Hashgraph is open source software (OSS) and developed in Java. Hedera is owned and managed by a “governing council” of global companies and entities, including Google, Boeing, IBM, Deutsche Telekom, LG, Dell, Ubisoft, and several others. OpenElements contribute to the base implementation and services of the Hedera Hashgraph OSS.
Hashgraph is a company that provides development and support for the Hedera Hashgraph and builds open-source components that enable faster deployment of industry solutions. OpenElements helps Hashgraph to build the platform of the Hedera Hashgraph.
The OTH Regensburg is a prestigious technical university in Germany, offering a wide range of degree programs, with its department for computer science and IT particularly notable for its practice-oriented teaching methods and close collaboration with the industry. OpenElements is a partner of OTH Regensburg, and our founder Hendrik Ebbers is a lecturer for blockchain technology at the OTH.
The takka group offers services in the areas of IT consulting and software development. Open Elements has supported takka with workshops in specialized areas of Java development.