OpenUK March 2025 Newsletter 1

Abby Crimlis

13th March 2025

Newsletter

Dear Readers,

In a world of shifting geopolitics there has been a lot of discussion about the role of open source in sovereign tech stacks and we have had a busy time in the press encouraging global collaboration and keeping open source open. Our legal and policy teams have been hard at work looking at the UK Copyright and AI consultation and have more responses coming down the line.

We are also preparing for KubeCon in London on 1-4 April, when we will be hosting a Birds of a Feather session with some Kubernetes and CNCF leaders from the UK as we launch a report about the UK’s contribution to Kubernetes and CNCF.

DSIT Copyright and TDM Consultation

The long awaited copyright consultation on copyright and text and data mining has now closed and OpenUK’s legal and policy leaders have responded to the consultation.

Read OpenUK’s Response

OpenUK Meetups

London Meetup#22 Accessible Open Source

19 March, 18:30 – 20:45

Avanade, London

London Apprentice Meetup #8

16 April, 18:30 – 20:35

Red Badger, London

Digital Meetup#7 Data Sovereignty

21 May, 12:00 – 13:00

Online

Visit OpenUK Events to see our meet-ups and to sign up.

OpenUK Events

Join us for our March Research and Reporting Show and Tell, with Amanda Brock, Jennifer Barth and Paul Sharratt on the 21 March 2025, Register here.

Register now for our June roundtable in the House of Lords sponsored by Sarah Edwards MP where we will be discussing Data Libraries and Gaia X.

Register now for our July roundtable in the House of Lords sponsored by Sarah Edwards MP where we will be discussing how open source can fill the skill gaps in the UK.

Save the date for OpenUK’s thought leadership day on the 14th May at the beautiful Pembroke College in Cambridge sponsored by the Energy & Environment Group, University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory.

Events OpenUK will be attending

CEO Amanda Brock moderating a panel on AI Openness with our AI Advisory Board members Sonia Cooper, Alex Housley, Aarushi Kansal and Dr Laura Gilbert. 17-18 March 2025, AI UK 2025 London

Kubernetes in the UK, Join OpenUK’s Bird of a Feather session for the launch of its UK Contribution to Kubernetes and CNCF Report at KubeCon Europe 1- 4 April 2025

Press

Computing: Amanda Brock OpenUK CEO’s OpEd on The ongoing need for open source and international collaboration in a time of geopolitical shift. Is there such a thing as a sovereign tech stack? – 11 March 2025

Cloud Therapist: Cheryl Hung and Amanda Brock, OpenUK’s CEO talking open source licensing with Richard Simon on the Cloud Therapist podcast – 11 March 2025

ITPro: Amanda Brock OpenUK’s CEO, discusses open source AI Gradients, or “shades of openness,” could be the solution of what openness is in AI, as we see these launch of R1 from DeepSeek – 7 March 2025

Computing: Amanda Brock OpenUK’s CEO argues the need for global collaboration whilst we see a non US tech stack – 3 March 2025

The Stack: Dr Laura Gilbert, head of AI for government at the Ellison Institute discusses the UK’s government commitment to openness and what the application of restrictions to open source means at SOOCon25 – 7 February 2025

Tech Informed: Guy Podjarny, Founder of Tessl and Amanda Brock, CEO, OpenUK quoted on the Hawley AI China Ban Bill at State of Open Con – 6 February 2025

April is almost upon us and we will shortly see our 6th Annual Awards launch. We have a limited number of categories available to sponsor so do get in touch if your organisation is interested in sponsoring this or any other OpenUK activities. We also have a range of volunteering activities.

Best wishes,

Amanda

Amanda Brock, CEO

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