Summaries, key quotes, and links to recordings and materials from UN Open Source Week 2025 (June 16–20, New York). Compiled from the official conference report.
📄 Report licensed under CC BY 4.0 (opens in new tab) · Authors: Sachiko Muto (RISE / OpenForum Europe)Participants built scalable open-source solutions to protect vulnerable children from extreme weather. Three challenge tracks: child-centric weather intelligence, harmonizing multi-hazard data, and enhancing UNICEF's open-source GeoSight platform. Winners: Brytans, SEESALT, and T4SG. Solutions will be used by UNICEF in real-world climate emergency response.
Wikipedia editors and UN staff expanded coverage of digital public goods, AI regulation, and the Global Digital Compact. Result: 1,000+ edits · 16,500 words (≈60 printed pages) · 2 million+ article views within one month. 6 new articles created, 234 existing articles improved.
An unconference focused on the often invisible work of software maintenance — supply chain security, long-term funding, community health, contributor onboarding, and sunsetting. Participants addressed structural challenges for maintainers who often work in isolation.
Based on the joint UN-ODET/ILO report Mind the AI Divide, this session presented a framework for assessing AI's impact on the workforce, with early findings on the ICT sector. Speakers emphasized AI is reshaping jobs, not just displacing them, and called for policies balancing innovation with equity.
Panelists from Element/Matrix.org (Amandine Le Pape), Arduino/Malmö University (David Cuartielles), OpenForum Europe (Sachiko Muto), and ITU (Walid Mathlouthi) examined skills needed to sustain open source in an AI-driven economy. Open source described as a "great democratizer" for broadening AI benefit.
Introduced OSI's Open Source AI Definition (OSAID) v1.0 and the DPGA's Digital Public Goods standard requirements for AI systems. Both stressed openness must extend beyond code to training data, documentation, governance, and safety practices.
Called on the community to support the Global Digital Compact (GDC), which explicitly recognizes open source, open AI models, and access to training data. Announced the event has grown from "a small, intimate gathering of open source enthusiasts" in 2023 to over 1,000 participants. Highlighted the UN Open Source Principles (endorsed by 80 organizations) and the UN Open Source Catalogue.
Panelists from AWS (Nithya Ruff), Carnegie Mellon University (Sayeed Choudhury), French DINUM (Bastien Guerry), GitHub (Avni Khatri), and the Republic of South Africa (Richard Gevers) shared their OSPO journeys. Key message: OSPOs provide the anchor for openness, bridging resistant organizational systems with open practices.
Panelists from TII (Hakim Hacid), GitLab (Sabrina Farmer), PwC (Frederik Blachetta), and UNESCO (Guilherme Canela) explored ethical AI development. Video contributions from Yann LeCun (Meta) and Stephanie Hung (ADB).
Panelists from UNECE (Dmitry Mariyasin), Wikimedia Foundation (Rebecca MacKinnon), Japan Digital Agency (Masayuki Yamada), African Development Bank (Momar Kouta), and Mozilla Foundation (Nabiha Syed) discussed open standards as the "lingua franca" for interoperability.
Panelists from Linux Foundation Europe (Gabriele Columbro), Mercedes-Benz (Wolfgang Gehring), Sovereign Tech Agency (Adriana Groh), Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (Miller Abel), and Capgemini (Franck Greverie). Video contribution from Tshilidzi Marwala (UN University).
Roberto Di Cosmo presented data from 180 million archived open source projects to underscore the need for shared digital infrastructure. Panelists from Colombia, Czech Republic (Prague City Council), Cloudera, and UN/CEFACT argued open source is an operational framework of standards, repositories, and governance — not just a philosophy.
The inaugural DPI Day framed digital public infrastructure — identity, payments, data exchange — as a shared public good. Key examples cited: India (Aadhaar + Jan-Dhan raised bank account ownership from 35% to ~80%), Estonia (saves ~2% of GDP annually), Brazil's Pix (cost $4M to build, saved $5.7B in year one).
Mapped requirements for portable DPI across borders: open interfaces, procurement models favoring reuse, and public sector capacity building. Video keynote from Tomas Lamanauskas (ITU Deputy Secretary-General).
Highlighted continental DPI initiatives, regional standards alignment, and the role of open-source components for sustainability and security. Africa's regional alignment is enabling DPI deployment at scale.
Six parallel sessions covered: DPI Safeguards & Inclusion (UN ODET/UNDP), Data Protection in DPI (World Bank/UNU-EGOV), Digital Sovereignty (GovStack/Mastodon), Evidence for Safety in DPI (Accion), Open Source for Financial Inclusion (Co-Develop/DPGA 50-in-5), and DPI for Smaller States (UNDP/Dominican Republic).
20 sessions across 5 tracks organized by RISE, OpenForum Europe, CURIOSS, and CHAOSS. Interactive format — short talks, workshops, and clinics.
Topics: Building Sovereign Digital Workspaces · Securing the Supply Chain through Global Collaboration · Invisible Work, Critical Code: The Role of Maintainers in Open Source Digital Infrastructure · Fostering Resiliency in the Digital Public Infrastructure.
Topics: Open Source in the UN System · Youth & SDGs · Open Source and Open Data · Open Technologies in Healthcare.
Topics: Open Trusted AI · Advancing Inclusive and Sustainable Solutions with Open Source AI · Responsible AI — Navigating Tradeoffs between Innovation and Responsibility.
Topics: Impactful Open Source in Academia · Open Source Enablement in the Public Sector · National Responsibility for Fundamental Technologies with Open Source · Measuring the Impact of Open Source for DPI.
Topics: Open Standards, Open Source, Futures: Lessons from FIWARE · Digital Public Goods as Infrastructure · DPI in the Global South · DPI Governance: Navigating Law, Ethics, and Safeguards.
Plenary sessions from Days 3–4 (Trusteeship Council Chamber, UN HQ) are the most likely to be on UN Web TV. Community Day (Day 5, PwC NYC) recordings — if published — would be on individual community organization channels.
Sessions held at UN Headquarters (OSPOs for Good Day 3, DPI Day Day 4) are archived on UN Web TV. Search for "open source week 2025".
Community Day sessions were held at PwC NYC and organized by RISE, OpenForum Europe, CURIOSS, and CHAOSS. Recordings may be on individual organization channels:
A small, intimate gathering of open source enthusiasts at UN HQ — the seed event that grew into UN Open Source Week. Mentioned in Amandeep Singh Gill's 2025 opening keynote as "a small, intimate gathering… it felt like a working session."
The second edition of the OSPOs for Good symposium — the direct predecessor to UN Open Source Week 2025. Brought together government, academic, and industry OSPO leaders. A separate conference report for this event may be available from OpenForum Europe or RISE.
The first event to use the "UN Open Source Week" branding — a full five-day programme co-hosted with Germany, the Dominican Republic, and Nigeria. Covered hackathons, OSPOs, DPI, and community tracks. The official conference report is CC BY 4.0 licensed.
Summary of the Community Day Supply Chain Security session, including insights from the OpenSSF team who participated in the Maintain-A-Thon and Community Day tracks.
A blog post about the Maintain-A-Thon security track — covering supply chain security, maintainer burnout, and long-term sustainability of open source infrastructure.