PETITES SINGULARITES

Their core work

Petites Singularités is a Brussels-based small research centre specialising in the intersection of free and open source software (FOSS), digital accessibility, and internet governance. Their work sits at the applied end of digital rights — contributing to projects that make internet technologies more open, more accessible, and more equitable. In the NGI Zero consortium they operated under the cascade-grant model, meaning they likely evaluated or mentored small teams receiving microgrants, applied accessibility and internationalisation standards, and contributed policy or technical guidance on software quality, copyright, and open-source licensing. Their profile suggests a boutique organisation whose value lies in deep expertise on FOSS ecosystems, a11y standards, and the regulatory and ethical dimensions of open internet infrastructure.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

With only two projects, both starting in 2018 and running through 2022, there is no meaningful timeline shift to analyse — all recorded keywords belong to the early period. What can be said is that their NGI Zero work covers a deliberately broad slice of open internet concerns: from the technical (security, software quality, internationalisation) to the social (diversity, mentoring, microgrants) to the legal (copyright, software patents). Whether this breadth reflects an organisational identity or simply the wide scope of the NGI Zero umbrella is unclear from the data alone. No post-2022 H2020 activity is recorded, so the trajectory after that point is unknown.

Their entire recorded H2020 footprint is within the NGI Zero programme; without post-2022 project data it is not possible to say whether they have expanded into Horizon Europe or pivoted their focus, making them a speculative rather than confirmed future partner.

How they like to work

Petites Singularités has operated exclusively as a participant, never as coordinator, across both recorded projects — consistent with a small specialist organisation that joins larger programme consortia rather than leading them. Their 13 unique partners across 5 countries, spread over just 2 projects, suggests they engage in mid-sized international consortia rather than narrow bilateral partnerships. Working with them likely means engaging a compact, highly specialised team that contributes focused expertise in FOSS, accessibility, or digital rights rather than broad project management capacity.

They have worked with 13 distinct consortium partners across 5 countries, entirely within the NGI Zero programme ecosystem. The geographic spread is European but not wide, and the network is likely concentrated among open-source and digital-rights-oriented organisations typical of NGI Zero consortia.

What sets them apart

Petites Singularités occupies a rare niche: a formally accredited research centre that combines technical FOSS competence with legal-policy expertise (copyright, software patents) and a social inclusion lens (diversity, accessibility, mentoring) — a combination that is uncommon in more engineering-focused digital organisations. Their Brussels base and bilingual (French) identity position them naturally as a bridge between EU policy circles and the open-source development community. For a consortium needing credibility on digital rights, accessibility compliance, or open-source governance, they offer a profile that a standard tech SME cannot replicate.

Highlights from their portfolio

• NGI0-PET
  The richer of the two projects in terms of stated scope, covering privacy-enhancing technologies alongside accessibility, internationalisation, and FOSS mentoring — making it the clearest evidence of the organisation's multi-dimensional digital expertise.
• NGI0-Discovery
  Participation in the NGI Zero Discovery track, focused on open internet discovery and search alternatives, rounds out their profile and confirms sustained engagement with the EU's Next Generation Internet initiative across two complementary programme strands.