Open Future Foundation

Our team participated in Numérique en Commun[s], the French annual event on public interest digital transformation. The conference brought together over 1,000 participants—including various Ministries, public agencies, regulators, non-profits, activists, and researchers. It's inspiring to see a major event devoted entirely to the ideas of public interest and Digital Commons. The French Stratégie Nationale pour un Numérique (National Strategy for Digital Inclusion) integrates commons-based approaches in a transversal way, across all areas of the strategy. This year, the focus of the conference was autonomy, resilience, and sustainability of the commons—themes that are core to our current work as well.

Next week, Wikimedia CH is hosting a closed expert roundtable on 'Collective Intelligence vs Artificial Intelligence' at IMD Lausanne, organised in collaboration with the Open Future Foundation and IMD Business School. This event is part of the Wikimedia CH Innovation Programme and will bring together researchers, AI specialists, and Wikimedia leaders to discuss how open knowledge ecosystems can coexist with, and influence, the development of artificial intelligence. Curated by Alek Tarkowski (Open Future Foundation) and Ilario Valdelli (Wikimedia CH), this conversation will contribute to a white paper on AI and collective intelligence to be published in 2026. #ArtificialIntelligence #CollectiveIntelligence #KnowledgeFutures #Wikimedia #IMD #OpenFuture

We have joined OpenForum Europe and dozens of organizations in calling for the creation of an EU Sovereign Tech Fund (EU-STF) to secure Europe's digital infrastructure. Open source software powers everything from healthcare platforms to energy grids, yet it remains chronically underfunded. This creates serious risks—from security vulnerabilities to vendor lock-in. The letter calls for: - EU co-legislators to make the EU-STF a priority in the 2028–2034 Multiannual Financial Framework - Member States to commit to pooled financing to scale investment beyond fragmented national efforts Read the public letter: https://lnkd.in/dDAiSpNH

The Apply AI Strategy promises the development of European public AI, through the new Frontier AI initiative. With the aim of delivering open-source frontier models, the initiative has the potential to reduce Europe's dependency on concentrated AI power. Yet the strategy falls short in ensuring purposeful deployment, by proposing an "AI First approach" that places faith in technological transformation above a focus on real needs of European citizens and communities. You can read my full analysis of this new European AI strategy on the Open Future Foundation's blog. https://lnkd.in/d6NGhXVr

GLAM Wiki 2025 spotlights Wikimedia platforms as essential public digital infrastructure in an era of AI advancement and Big Tech concentration. Open Future's Senior Open Content Specialist, Doug McCarthy, will present CommonsDB as part of our ongoing work on copyright infrastructure. This session will demonstrate how open infrastructure can bridge cultural memory institutions with the digital commons. "Wikimedia isn't just a platform—it's an open digital infrastructure that institutions can trust and build on." Join us to explore the connection between cultural memory and the digital commons. #GLAMWiki2025 is jointly organized by Wikimedia Portugal and Wiki Editoras Lx. 📅 From October 30 to November 1

At Open Future, we're exploring how the rise of powerful generative AI systems impacts creators, rightholders, and the Digital Commons. 🤖 Machines can now consume human creativity, reassemble it, and produce synthetic content that closely resembles human-created work. This raises questions: Will AI replace human creators? How will it affect their income? Do AI companies have the right to use copyright-protected works as training data, and under what conditions? What do these developments reveal about the limits of copyright and the sustainability of the ecosystem? Explore our work examining these challenges and developing approaches that serve both creators and the Digital Commons. 🎨 Learn more about our work on this topic: https://lnkd.in/dnh9P6v3

Will you be at Numérique en Commun[s] 2025 in Strasbourg, 29-30 October? This French gathering advances Digital Commons as a pathway to digital sovereignty and democratic empowerment—core principles of Open Future's work. NEC offers stakeholders a chance to build a digital world serving the public interest. By centering commons-based solutions, the event shows how open, ethical, sustainable, and community-driven resources can become the default in public digital strategy. This year's focus on citizen empowerment at local and European levels aligns with our vision of Digital Commons as a counterforce to concentrated power. 🎤 Zuzanna Warso will take part in a panel to explore “Why could digital commons be the most cost-effective solution for everyone?” on 29 October at 14:15 CEST. She will share the stage with Stéphanie Schaer, Audran Le Baron, Valérian Guiller, Tara Tarakiyee, and Florian Caringe in a session moderated by Benjamin Jean. 🎓 Alek Tarkowski will present the masterclass "How can we overcome the paradox of openness?" on the same day at 17:15 CEST. The lecture will present our perspective on digital commons as a way of fighting concentrations of power, developed over five years of our work. 🎫 Registration and full program (in French): https://lnkd.in/dezA-D4

Europe's AI strategy is moving forward—but is it moving in the right direction? The EU's Apply AI strategy makes important progress on public infrastructure, but risks deepening vendor dependency, unless purpose, openness, and sustainability are more clearly defined. In our latest blog post, Alek Tarkowski argues that Europe needs: 🧭 Purposeful deployment: AI where it serves real public value, not "AI first" by default 🏗️ Public infrastructure: Open source frontier models that reduce dependency on commercial vendors 🤝 Bold open-source commitments: Not piecemeal approaches that leave the door open to vendor lock-in 🗳️ Democratic governance: Transparent access and community participation, not just technical management 🌱 Sustainability from day one: Addressing the massive energy and environmental costs the strategy currently ignores Europe has a chance to build an AI infrastructure that serves people, not an AI scaling race. But only if we get the fundamentals right. Read the full piece: https://lnkd.in/dXkay-6f

Tech Policy Press is publishing a series called "Ideas for Europe's Future" to explore how the EU can defend democracy against threats from within and without. Our Director of Research, Zuzanna Warso—in her piece for the series—explores how the unity around "sovereignty" in Europe masks deeper questions: sovereignty for what purpose, and in service of whom? 🤔 Europe's digital sovereignty debate unites unlikely allies—but to what end? Trump's return has exposed the EU's infrastructure dependence. True sovereignty requires more than control: it demands a democratic infrastructure with open-source components, federated architectures, and environmental accountability. Five key reforms from our latest policy brief can turn rhetoric into reality. Read her perspective: https://lnkd.in/dR3um7Gx

🚀 Shape the Future of Europe's Digital Commons 🤝 Join us at the #DigitalCommonsPolicySummit — where policy meets practice to drive Europe’s digital sovereignty forward. What’s in it for you? 🔍 Strategic Clarity :Gain insight into the NGI Commons activities and discover how Digital Commons are scaling across Member States. 💶 Policy & Funding Insights: Explore how the next Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF), sustainable funding models, and public procurement are transforming the landscape. 🛠️ Practitioner Perspectives: Hear directly from the people building the #Commons — open source developers, civic tech leaders, and researchers — sharing grounded, actionable insights. 🤝 Networking & Influence: Engage with peers, thought leaders, and policymakers. Bring your voice to the hive and take home new strategies to influence your organisation, city, and country. 🌍 Together, we can build a more sovereign, sustainable, and democratic digital future for Europe. Register now: 🔗 https://lnkd.in/dRF4GjWh #DigitalCommons #OpenSource #DigitalSovereignty #PolicyInnovation #EU #PublicDigitalInfrastructure #TechPolicy #NGI Martel Innovate CNRS The Linux Foundation OpenForum Europe Open Future Foundation NGI - The Next Generation Internet