On Saturday May 30th 2026, the XV edition of P.I.W.O. Poznań Free Software Fest was held in Poznań, 🇵🇱 Poland.

P.I.W.O. is an event with a long history. Between 2004 and 2018, it was organized by various student associations at the Poznań University of Technology. After 2018’s XIII edition (superstition much?), it entered a long hiatus that lasted until 2025, when members of the newly-formed Knyfyrtel Poznań Hackerspace decided to bring it back. The reactivated event proved a huge success, with the XIV edition bringing in 197 attendees. As such, ambitions for 2026 were rather big.

Teamwork makes the dream work

This year’s edition was the result of combined efforts of three Poznań-based organizations:

• Knyfyrtel Hackerspace Poznań
• “Webrains” Students’ Scientific Association at the Adam Mickiewicz University
• “Linux Academic Group” Students’ Scientific Association at the Poznań University of Technology

Thanks to Webrains, for the first time in its history, the event was held at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań – namely, the uni’s Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science. Also a historical first, the XV edition was granted honorary patronage by the President of Poznań City Council.

Busy, busy day

The event spanned almost the entire Saturday, opening at 9:30 am and closing at 7:35 pm. The agenda was tightly packed, featuring 3 lecture tracks with 24 talks, 2 workshop tracks with 8 activities, plus a LAN Party track with 3 tournaments, as well as “free play” sessions. There was also a quiet corner where, thanks to the “Honte” group, attendees could relax and learn to play Go.

Throughout the years, one of P.I.W.O.’s hallmarks was the lunch break, with the attendees being provided free pizza. This year couldn’t be any different, with some 66m² (or 710 ft²) of pizza being delivered to the venue. (It disappeared frighteningly quick.)

The Fedora Community was represented by:

• Zbyszek Jędrzejewski-Szmek, who gave 2 (!) talks
• Mat Holmes, who volunteered as a photographer
• Kacper Skrzyński, who handled various urgent tasks
• Artur Frenszek-Iwicki, who gave a talk and held a workshop session

Historical moment: creation of SPOIWO

This year’s P.I.W.O. served as an opportunity to announce the creation of SPOIWO – Sojusz Przyjaciół Otwartego i Wolnego Oprogramowania (Alliance of Friends of Open and Free Software). This diverse coalition of social and technology organisations, cooperatives and open source businesses signed a declaration in support of digital sovereignty. The alliance was formed in response to the ever-deepening of public institutions’ dependency on closed platforms and their loss of control over data and communication.

The signing ceremony also featured speeches by representatives of SUSE Poland, Polish Linux User Group, “Internet. Czas działać!” Foundation and PLZ Spółdzielnia.

Exceeding all expectations

The event wrapped with 452 attendee badges issued, which exceeded even the most daring of expectations. (The number also explains why the pizza disappeared so quick.) The bar for the next edition is set high, but so are the organizing team’s ambitions.

If you’d like to learn more about the event, watch the live stream recordings, or subscribe to news so you won’t miss the announcement for the XVI edition – you can do all of that on the event’s website, at piwo.sh.