Read the newsletter Sign up for the OpenUK newsletter
Dear Readers,
Just when I thought it was safe to wrap last week up on Friday, the UK Prime Minister took to LinkedIn saying “we are pro-open source. Open source drives innovation. It creates start-ups. It creates communities. There must be a very high bar for any restrictions on open source.” And if that wasn’t enough he went on to announce, “We know open source is a recipe for innovation. That’s why the AI Safety Institute is today open sourcing what it has built. The code for its Inspect project – a framework for building AI safety evaluations – is now available to anyone to use.”
Instead of regulating in a prescriptive way that might inhibit innovation, this pro-innovation approach – building a tool to solve a technical problem – is one you may recognise! It offers the opportunity for an open source ecosystem to be built in the UK around AI testing and safety. A great opportunity for the UK to leverage both our position as #1 in Europe in open source software and our significant position in AI. Watch this space for more news.
OpenUK needs your help.
Today we launch our survey and need as many folk in the UK as possible to complete this. Please complete and share and if your organisation is interested in becoming a dissemination partner, do please let us know. Thank you.
OpenUK AI Advisory Board
The first of our Advisory Board refreshes sees an all star cast join OpenUK’s our new AI Advisory Board. The Board, as with our past boards, will provide OpenUK with subject matter expertise and guidance on policy matters across the domain, but will also be working on their own Advisory Board outputs, setting their road map and terms of reference at their first meeting. This group of world-leading industry experts span both AI and openness and will provide unrivalled expertise into our organisation. We are incredibly grateful to them for taking the time to collaborate and convene the conversation on AI and openness in the UK. We look forward to their outputs which will add true value by turbo charging understanding in this field.
OpenUK will share another 11 Boards in the weeks to come, covering a variety of areas from Quantum, Space and Security to Sustainability. If you are interested in getting more involved with our Boards or engaging with our AI work, please contact admin@openuk.uk. We are not a pay to play organisation and all with expertise are welcome.
Take the opportunity to join our AI Advisory Board Chair, Professor Neil Lawrence, at the launch of his new book, “The Atomic Human – understanding ourselves in the age of AI,” on Tuesday 5th June. We wish him every success with the book.
State of Open: The UK in 2024 Survey and Report
Survey
OpenUK’s Annual Survey opened today and we would be grateful if anyone in the UK would please complete the survey lending their voice to the data gathered. This is the 4th year we have conducted our severe
Each year OpenUK’s survey is used to provide critical data allowing us to undertake an economic analysis of the UK data to build understanding of open source software and its impact and usage in the UK. Harvard’s economic reporting this year shifted their approach to be value based rather than the cost of replacing software. This focus on value generated by open source software has been at the base of OpenUK’s analysis and calculations of the economic impact of open source for the last 4 years and we are delighted to see others shift to this approach.
Please spare us 20 minutes and take the survey, your data will make a difference.
State of Open: The UK in 2024 Report Launch event
and Summer Drinks
The report launch will see Chief Research Officer Dr Jennifer Barth and CEO share the output of our survey and research along with an afternoon of panels and keynote speakers from the thought leader and case study providers in the report and will include keynote speeches from OpenUK AI Advisory Board Chair Professor Neil Lawrence, and the economist Will Hutton.
The Report launch will take place at the Digital Catapult in London on 3rd July,12:00 – 5:30pm and will be followed by an evening drinks reception 5:30 – 8:30pm
We hope to see you at one or both events.
Sign up for Report Day Sign up for Summer Drinks
OpenUK’s Open Manifesto
OpenUK’s Open Manifesto sets out three critical asks for Government in this year when we will see a major election in the UK. Please lend your and your organisation’s support to this document which will be delivered to the various political parties when the election is called. We will also be providing a letter for you to share the manifesto with your prospective parliamentary candidates once the election date is announced.
Read and Sign up to OpenUK’s Open Manifesto
OpenUK Research and Reporting Show and Tell
OpenUK has been reporting on open source software since 2021 and encouraging a collaborative approach across the global research and reporting community. We have led this with bi-monthly “Show and Tell” events where those conducting research are able to share what they are working on.
Each meeting is free to attend and anyone is welcome to join and learn more about what research is being undertaken and the reporting coming down the line. Please also feel free to contact us if you would like to share your work.
Date & Time: Friday, May 17 2024, 16:00 – 17:30 BST (Online Webinar)
Agenda: Host – Amanda Brock,
Speakers: Dr Dawn Foster discussing the “CHAOSS” project research and metrics, Chris Howard “EPAM” Reporting, and Dr Jennifer Barth will cover “OpenUK Survey and Economics of Open Source Report” which will launch on 3 July.
OpenUK MeetUps
OpenUK London #14: Cybersecurity
Join us on Tuesday 21 May, for our 14th OpenUK London community meetup focusing on all things Cybersecurity. Thank you to Avanade for sponsoring the venue and providing refreshments. Please bring as new swag to swap!
OpenUK Online #1: Maintainers, Maintainers, Maintainers!
On Wednesday 22nd May our first Digital MeetUp, will be online-only with a lunch-time webinar. So take a break at lunch and celebrate open source software maintainers and all they contribute, as part of GitHub Maintainer Month. Join us in hearing about projects from their maintainers who will also share their experiences.
And we wish to add OpenUK’s thanks to our maintainer community for all of their work and contribution. There is also a great prize up for grabs!
We invite you to join Open UK’s party celebrating Kubernete’s 10th Birthday on 6th June
OpenUK requests the pleasure of your company at a party celebrate to celebrate the 10th birthday of Kubernetes, at Red Hat’s Innovation Lab in Monument, in the City of London. Thanks to Civo, ControlPlane and Isovalent for being first to sponsor.
The UK has been a very significant player in Kubernetes and we look forward to celebrating this anniversary with many of our Kubernetes contributors and community.
We are looking for more companies to sponsor this event so if you are interested contact admin@openuk.uk and to seeing many of you there.
OpenUK in the Press
OpenUK on Podcast
CEO, Amanda Brock discusses why open sourcing the UK AI Safety Institute Safety Testing Platform as open source on is a canny move, and considers the difference between using a tech tool and legislation to solve a digital challenge in a podcast with Richard Simon.
Events OpenUK Will be Attending
Stockholm Tech Show 2024 22 – 23 May, 2024 | Sweden Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK, Headline Speaker, “Innovating the future with open source software” |
|
|
|
|
Events of Interest
|
|
|
As well as sharing upcoming events in our newsletter, our website hosts a calendar of all Open Technology Industry events and if you would like us to add your event we will share a form via admin@openuk.uk.
As you can see we have a lot of exciting news so far in May. There will be more to follow in two weeks time when we hope to share an update on the Open Source Day announced in the PM’s post on Friday. I very much hope that we will have the chance to see you at some of our upcoming events.
Amanda
Amanda Brock, CEO
For information on anything in this newsletter or to get involved contact admin@openuk.uk
