COOL Days 2026 brought more than 100 staff, partners, customers, contributors and community members together in Hamburg for three days of talks, panels, workshops, roadmap discussions, demos, good food and good conversation.
Held at betahaus Gänsemarkt from 27–29 April, COOL Days 2026 welcomed people from across the open-source, public-sector, education, enterprise and integration communities. Some joined to share what they are building, some came to learn more about what is coming next, and as always, there was plenty of time for the important things too – pizza, drinks, quizzes, awards, harbour views, tiny trains, and catching up with people who are usually only seen in support tickers, video calls or partner meetings!
The bigger picture for open collaboration
COOL Days opened with a broader look at the world around open-source collaboration: where the industry is moving, what customers and public-sector organisations need, and why open, interoperable document collaboration matters more than ever.
The conversations were not only about features, releases or roadmaps, they were also about trust, control, integration, sovereignty, accessibility, long-term collaboration, and the role open source can play in building sustainable digital infrastructure.
Across the three days, one message came through clearly – open collaboration is no longer a niche concern. It is a serious strategic choice for governments, military, businesses, universities, service providers and software platforms that want control over how documents are created, edited and shared.
Partners and customers in focus
COOL Days is a community event, and 2026 showed just how broad that community has become.
This year’s programme included partners, customers, integrators and organisations from across Europe and beyond, including Schleswig-Holstein, HCL Software, the Austrian Armed Forces, DataPort, XWiki, CIB, TU Berlin, openDesk, ownCloud by Kiteworks, EGroupware, Fabasoft, Arawa, Friprogramvaruskyndikatet, ECMind, Redpill Linpro, cBrain, EasyData, Twin Cubes, .riess applications, Nextcloud and more.
We heard from public-sector organisations working on digital sovereignty, cloud providers building open alternatives, universities supporting research and education, integrators extending Collabora Online for their own platforms, and customers deploying open-source office solutions in real-world environments.
It was also a chance to hear directly from the people putting those systems into practice – what works, what needs improving, what users expect, and where open collaboration can go next.
Product progress: COOL 26.04 and beyond
Of course, COOL Days would not be COOL Days without a look at what is new in Collabora Online and Collabora Office.
This year’s programme covered a wide range of product and engineering updates, including soon to be released COOL 26.04 features, initial AI integrations, the new Collabora Office for desktop, mobile apps, new ecosystem integrations, UI/UX improvements, accessibility, interoperability, performance and more.
The nearly 100 deep dives and lightning talks also showcased how much of Collabora Online’s progress happens not only in big headline features, but in the careful, practical improvements that make daily use better for everyone.
Workshops, feedback and roadmap discussions
Away from the main stage, the Partner Track and Integration Workshops were not about presenting finished work. They were about feedback, priorities, integration challenges, roadmap discussions, and the practical details that make deployments successful.
The Partner Track included roadmap discussions, product feedback, release and support conversations, giving partners and our larger customers a direct opportunity to share what they are seeing in the field and help shape the direction of the product.
The Integrations Workshops focused on the hands-on side of building with Collabora Online – integration basics, troubleshooting, customisation, white labelling, COOL APIs, deeper integration settings and lots more to help take advantage of all of our new functionality.
For partners and integrators, these workshops are one of the most valuable parts of COOL Days. They create space for the kind of detailed technical and product conversations that are hard to fit into a normal conference schedule, and they help ensure that Collabora Online continues to develop around real deployment needs.
OSSCars, harbour views and Miniatur Wunderland
COOL Days is about product, partners and software, but it is also about people.
The first evening brought everyone together for pizza, drinks, the return of the COOL Days Quiz, and the inaugural OSSCars: a light-hearted awards night celebrating the hard work happening across the Collabora Online ecosystem.
The second evening took us to Das Feuerschiff, an ex-lighthouse ship in Hamburg harbour, for dinner, a few drinks and plenty of conversation. It was a great setting for catching up with old friends, meeting new partners and customers, and continuing the day’s discussions in a more relaxed environment.
And then there was Miniatur Wunderland – because no trip to Hamburg is complete without tiny cities, tiny trains and amazingly detailed tiny infrastructure. It was another chance to talk, network, laugh, take photos and enjoy a very memorable evening together.
These moments matter. Open-source communities are of course built through code, documentation, translation, testing, support and other shared technical work, but they are also built through trust, conversation and time enjoyed together.
Thank you to everyone who joined us
A huge thank you to everyone who joined us in Hamburg! Our partners, customers, contributors, speakers, listeners, staff and community members.
Thank you to everyone who presented, asked questions, joined workshops, shared feedback, joined us online, helped with the event, or simply came along for the conversations.
The Collabora Online ecosystem is growing in every direction. More partners, more customers, more integrations, more contributors, and more ambitious open-source collaboration projects being built around the world.
Get involved
You can watch the full livestreams now, and individual lightning talk videos will be coming soon.
Tuesday Livestream Wednesday Livestream
If you want to be part of what comes next – as a contributor, community member, customer or partner – we’d love to hear from you. Find out more about the Collabora Online community here or get in touch with us now for more information about working with the Collabora Office suite.
We look forward to seeing you again next year!
