Rio de Janeiro, November 2025 – OpenForum Europe (OFE), the Open Source Initiative (OSI), and the Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) today announced a strategic partnership — the Open Technology Research Network (OTRN) — to strengthen the global open technology research community and advance evidence-based policymaking around open technologies.
Open technologies — including software, data, and standards — underpin today’s digital infrastructure, powering innovation globally across business, government, and society at large. Yet despite their ubiquity, there remains a significant gap in understanding their full social, political, and economic impact. The absence of robust, coordinated research limits the ability of societies around the world to realise the full value of this immense source of innovation and to apply it to pressing policy challenges — from digital sovereignty and innovation policy to industrial competitiveness and economic growth.
To address this challenge, the partnership will focus on three key areas: (1) joint collaboration around a shared research agenda, (2) the development of the Open Technology Research Network (OTRN), and (3) co-organisation of a reimagined annual symposium building on the legacy of the OpenForum Academy Symposium.
Building on the success of the recent OpenForum Academy Symposium conferences at Technische Universität (TU) Berlin (Berlin, 2023), Harvard University (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2024), and FGV Direito Rio Law School (Rio de Janeiro, 2025), the partners will co-organise the first annual Open Technology Research Symposium in 2026. The symposium will continue to expand the legacy of the OFA Symposium, convening academics and practitioners to discuss cutting-edge, policy-relevant impact research and its implications for global debates in areas such as digital sovereignty, innovation, resilience, and competitiveness.
“Open technologies are fundamental to the digital economy, yet their broader social and economic significance remains poorly understood,” said Astor Nummelin Carlberg, Executive Director of OpenForum Europe. “This partnership is about addressing that gap. By connecting rigorous research with policymaking, we aim to build the institutional foundations needed to ensure that open technologies are recognised, valued, and supported as key enablers of innovation and resilience. The legacy of the OFA Symposium will continue through this new, collaborative effort.”
In practice, the Open Technology Research Network and the new Open Technology Research Symposium will provide a platform for coordinated research, joint collaboration, joint fundraising, improvement of dataset quality and accessibility, and knowledge exchange. They will bring together researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to strengthen an empirical evidence base for the societal, political, and economic impacts of open technologies, through both increased networking of researchers, an annual flagship conference, and one-off events.
“This collaboration represents a significant step forward in building the research infrastructure needed to support informed decision making about open technologies,” said Deb Bryant, Interim Executive Director of the Open Source Initiative. “Together, we can ensure that policy discussions are grounded in rigorous analysis and evidence.”
Renata Avila, CEO of the Open Knowledge Foundation, added: “Open knowledge and open technology are critical infrastructures to shape industrial policies, development strategies and digital autonomy. This partnership will help ensure that reproducible data and research in these areas deliver broad benefits to society.”
The partnership is designed as an open-ended collaboration rather than a short-term project. The three organisations will work together to secure funding, develop a joint research agenda, and strengthen connections across the global research community.
Further details about the Open Technology Research Network and the location of the first Open Technology Research Symposium will be announced in early 2026.
About OpenForum Europe
OpenForum Europe is an independent not-for-profit think tank that advocates for openness in computing. OFE works to advance the interests of open source software, open standards, and other open technologies in the European policy sphere.
About the Open Source Initiative
The Open Source Initiative is a global non-profit organisation that stewards the Open Source Definition and builds bridges between open source communities and other sectors. OSI educates about and advocates for the benefits of open source and builds sustainable communities around open source.
About the Open Knowledge Foundation
The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) is a global non-profit organisation that promotes openness as a design principle. For over two decades, it has established standards, created technical tools, and built digital public infrastructures in coordination with a global network present in over 40 countries. OKFN is the organisation behind the Open Definition, Open Data Commons, School of Data, and recognised digital public goods such as CKAN and Open Data Editor.
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