Today, Open Forum Europe (OFE) is thrilled to join the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) as its newest member.
The DPGA is part of the response to the United Nation’s call to end poverty, protect the planet and improve the lives and prospects of everyone, everywhere. The announcement comes on the heels of a big year for digital policymaking in Europe, one where open source technologies are increasingly being situated on the European digital agenda, particularly in legislation like the Interoperable Europe Act, the Cyber Resilience Act and the AI Act.
The DPGA is a multi-stakeholder initiative with a mission to accelerate the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in low- and middle-income countries by facilitating the discovery, development, use of and investment in digital public goods. Digital public goods means Open Source software, open data, open AI models, open standards and open content that adhere to privacy and other applicable laws and best practices. They follow the principle of “do no harm” by design and are fundamental to attaining the SDGs.
“OFE over the last years has been increasingly working to bring disparate voices together around common values and shared beliefs around open source, amplifying their voices to influence policy formulation and support strategic decision-making,” said Astor Nummelin Carlberg, executive director of OFE. “As an organization, we believe that mission has made a natural ally of the digital public goods movement, both in Europe and beyond. We are excited to join the DPGA and bring a distinctly European perspective to the alliance, as well as join the global community of organizations championing the virtues of sustainable and reusable digital public goods. We will do our very best as part of the alliance to champion European values and connect European experiences with policy innovation happening globally.”
OFE’s work aligns with that of the DPGA in many ways, including these three OFE’s initiatives that will be included as part of the DPGA’s Annual Roadmap for 2024:
- Promoting DPGs in the European Open Source Ecosystem: OFE brings the European open source communities and public administrations together to promote dialogue around reusable software and its value in achieving the SDGs. We will use our expertise and presence in European communities focused on open technologies to centre and promote DPGs, as well as advocate for more European projects to register as DPGs.
- OSPOs-Related Advocacy: OFE reaffirms the roles OSPOs are having in promoting open source development, adoption and use in Europe, and shares those lessons from our networks globally. We aim to do this by doing new policy and research in Europe focused on OSPOs, as well as
participating in more OSPO-related events globally alongside the DPGA to
help share lessons on OSPOs from Europe. - DPGs and Digital Commons: OFE will involve itself more in global policy discussions around DPGs and discuss the complementarity of ideas around digital commons. We will do this by promoting dialogue and sharing lessons learned around the funding and governance of open source software being used at scale as part of the critical digital infrastructure our societies depend on.
Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the DPGA, stated, “Welcoming Open Forum Europe is a milestone for the Digital Public Goods Alliance in its engagement with the European open source ecosystem. OFE’s unique convening role in Europe and its reputation in Brussels policy circles make it an organisation at the forefront of the open source movement in Europe. This can help amplify lessons learned in Europe and enable knowledge sharing that advances digital public goods. We are excited to work with OFE and their partners to advance conversations around approaches for funding and governing digital public goods to support human-centered digital transformation worldwide.”
To learn more about DPGA, visit https://digitalpublicgoods.net/ or email hello@digitalpublicgoods.net.
To learn more about the news and opinions of the OFE and its stakeholders, visit the OFE website and sign up to receive our newsletter. You can also get in touch at info@openforumeurope.org.