This report was created ensuing the 2024 OSPOs for Good symposium. The symposium was a multi-day conference held on 9th and 10th July 2024, bringing together diverse open source thinkers to uplift OSPOs as a global network for good. The conference theme was ‘open source networks as enablers of global cooperation’, which it explored through high-level thematic tracks that address key areas of open source policy, as well as highlighting emerging examples of ‘open source for good’ from across the globe.
The report summarises panels, plenaries, and speeches held during the two-day event and draws key recommendations from discussions held throughout. Core discussions at the conference centred around the importance of open source, individual privacy, and security. Participants agreed on the need to raise awareness of digital public goods within the UN system, proposing solutions like the application of open source solutions in ICT change requests within UN entities and linking open source code repositories to relevant SDGs. Ultimately, most attendees recognised that open source was both a culture and a product of that culture; the more voices and views it accommodated, the more robust and effective its solutions would be for sustainable development.
Lead authors: Sachiko Muto, (RISE, OFE), Kirsten Sandberg (The Linux Foundation), Nicholas Gates (OFE), Habib Noorbhai (University of Johannesburg) & Ezra Sharpe (United Nations Office of the
Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology)
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