In a landmark demonstration of the power of the Matrix open standard, two of Sweden's major public sector agencies, Försäkringskassan (the Swedish Social Insurance Agency) and Trafikverket (the Swedish Transport Administration), have successfully federated their entirely separate real time communications systems. 

By using Matrix as a common digital communications infrastructure, Sweden’s public sector can ensure its digital sovereignty by every agency having a choice between competitive vendors that all support the same open standard to enable government-wide federation. For example, Försäkringskassan uses Element (branded as SAFOS Chatt), while Trafikverket uses Rocket.Chat. Two separate organisations, two different vendors, one seamless conversation.

Sweden’s initiative to embrace digital commons for real time communications has been led by eSamverkansprogrammet (eSam), a member-driven collaboration initiative involving more than 40 member agencies. It was eSam that announced the go live.

eSam added that it intends to expand the initiative, involving more authorities and end-users to build momentum and practical experience. It also sees more vendors getting involved to complement the current examples of Element, Rocket.Chat and Mattermost. The eSam project, known as dSam, also has plans to formally recommend that eSam adopts Matrix as a common standard for secure and interoperable communication between Sweden’s authorities.

Vendor-agnostic federation

Sweden's public sector is laying the foundations for a truly sovereign communications infrastructure. It rejects vendor lock-in in favour of a decentralised open standard that puts agencies in control. By embracing Matrix-based federation, Sweden unlocks a genuinely competitive marketplace where vendors must compete on quality and value. The result is an entire public sector that can connect and communicate in real time, regardless of which solution each agency chooses. And because Matrix is open source, that freedom extends even further as organisations can build directly from FOSS components if they choose. Either way, they do so with the confidence that they will interoperate seamlessly with every other public agency in Sweden. It is a model that is simultaneously digitally sovereign, pragmatic and future-proof.

Försäkringskassan (SAFOS) presented on the importance of an open standard for interoperable communication at The Matrix Conference 2025, which was reported on at the time by Computer Weekly. With Sweden’s Social Insurance Agency and Transport Administration having just gone live with Matrix-based federation, it’s entirely fitting that The Matrix Conference 2026 will be in Malmö, Sweden!

In a recent blog post about the need for open standard federation, we created a map of Europe’s major Matrix-based public sector deployments. It shows the breadth of Matrix adoption across Europe, and some of the solutions, vendors and providers already in place.  

The importance of interoperability

Matrix was born out of a vision for end-user independence; freedom from centralised systems, siloed products and surveillance capitalism. It's a vision that resonates deeply with governments and public sector organisations, particularly in an era defined by the stranglehold of vendor lock-in.

We take it for granted that anyone can pick up a telephone and call anyone else, or send an email regardless of provider. These are digital commons, built on common standards, and they transformed how the world communicates. Yet the more recent generation of communications infrastructure - from Microsoft Teams and Slack to WhatsApp, Signal and Zoom - has deliberately abandoned this principle. These platforms are engineered to be siloed, prioritising vendor growth over user freedom and interoperability.

One of the biggest challenges in public service is bringing together the multiple organisations that serve citizens. A world of siloed messaging apps and vendor-specific collaboration tools makes co-ordination between organisations much more difficult. Whereas a return to digital commons - in the case of communications, an open standard such as Matrix - proactively encourages real time communication between separate organisations. For example Police, Fire and Ambulance crews can easily communicate with each other from their own separate, specialised systems provided they all operate from the same interoperable standard.

In a world of Matrix-based communications, it’s easy for health insurance firms, hospitals, local clinics and high street pharmacies to communicate in real time while simultaneously enabling each party to pick and choose its own technology solution. Indeed, thanks to gematik’s work on the Matrix-based TI-Messenger standard, it’s already a reality for Germany’s healthcare ecosystem. It’s becoming the reality in Sweden too, led by eSam, Försäkringskassan and Trafikverket.

More than digital sovereignty

Europe’s push for digital sovereignty is entirely correct and logical, but it must ensure that the post-Big Tech era is built on the principle of digital commons. Otherwise it’s just trading the flaws of US Big Tech for the flaws of European Big Tech. That might be an economic win for Europe, but it falls far short of transforming the way the public sector communicates, and the resulting operational efficiencies and service improvements it could deliver citizens.

Matrix is more than an open standard. It’s an opportunity to overhaul public service. That’s why Element is so proud to play a significant role in maintaining the Matrix open source project, and to be working with so many governments and public sector organisations to help them adopt Matrix-based communications.