United StatesPaulus Schoutsen
Paulus Schoutsen is a Dutch software engineer who created the open-source Home Assistant smart-home platform in 2013, beginning with a Python script to control his Philips Hue lights that grew into one of the world's most active open-source projects. Educated at the University of Twente, he worked as an ETL developer at the San Diego Supercomputer Center before turning to Home Assistant full time. In 2018 he co-founded Nabu Casa to put the project on sustainable financial footing through cloud subscriptions and hardware, deliberately avoiding venture capital so the platform's privacy- and local-first mission would stay free of outside investor pressure. In 2024 he helped establish the Switzerland-based Open Home Foundation, to which Home Assistant and related projects were transferred, and he serves as its president advocating for privacy, choice, and sustainability in the connected home.