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Dear Readers,
As we move into autumn we see the Oscars of Open Source, the OpenUK Awards taking place for a 6th year in December. There are never enough spaces at this event but don’t fear, if you are not a shortlisted nominee or one of our invited attendees at the Awards why not join our Christmas Party, Unconference or a MeetUp.
There’s a great deal of engagement in UK policy activities. Our Policy work has included a recent workshop with the UKRI and DSIT teams looking at OpenUK’s recommendations to them as a user and funder of open source. Liz Rice, Paula Kennedy, Matt Barker and Martin Woodward joined Amanda Brock for this. We plan to share a briefing blogpost on this work and our recommendations shortly.
We will also be sharing a briefing and suggestions to support individual responses to the UK Standard Essential Patents Consultation which closes on 7 October.
AI Roundtable with Secretary of State for Digital
Our team engaged with several hundred people across a range of roles from business to development, students to CEOs in our first series of events in India on the Road to the AI Impact Summit.
This work was the start of an engagement over the next 6 months that will see OpenUK build reporting and host a fringe event with its new sister organisation OpenHQ. We will share our trip report shortly and are now working with local collaboration partners on a report on AI Openness and the India landscape to be shared around Bangalore Tech Week and on our plans to host an AI Openness Fringe at the AI Impact Summit. If you are interested in being involved do let us know.
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OpenUK was one of around 60 organisations asked to participate in the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology Roundtables hosted by our Secretary of State Liz Kendall MP supported by Lisa Nandy MP. The importance of open source and the UK’s leadership as number 1 in Europe was highlighted by CEO Amanda Brock, and this will be followed up over the next few months with various collaborations to support the UK’s AI discussion. |
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AI Impact Summit to be hosted by the Indian Government, February 2026
Our CEO will be attending the AI Impact Summit taking place in Delhi in February as a guest of the Indian Government. This will be the second global AI summit she has attended.
Our team are working on an AI Openness Fringe to take place during the Summit in Delhi. Details will be announced in the coming weeks, and we are currently seeking partners and sponsors. If you are interested in partnering or sponsoring, please contact mailto:admin@openuk.uk
OpenUK Awards 6th Edition, 2025 Nominations Closed
Nominations are now closed for the 6th Edition of the OpenUK Awards, recognising UK leadership and global collaboration in Open Technology. Our Judges are hard at work and a shortlist of up to 3 nominees on each category will be shared in October. The shortlisted nominees will each be offered one place at the ceremony. Nobody pays for nominations or to attend the Awards thanks to our generous sponsors: Arm, AutoGPT, ControlPlane, Cyber Ark, Iain Mitchell KC, lowRISC, ODI, and RedBadger.
This year’s Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony will take place on 4 December in the House of Commons and is generously hosted by Dame Chi Onwurah MP.
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OpenUK Blog
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Would you like to write for the OpenUK Blog?OpenUK weekly blog post is back, revamped for 2025. The OpenUK blog will share a wide range of topics, and we hope will be of relevance and interest to our community. We are looking forward to reading your insights and sharing them on our blog. Accepted blogs will be shared across our social media and newsletter. You can find out more about submission as well as read our blogs on our blog page. |
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OpenUK Meetups
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Our October MeetUp is open for in-person and digital registration. |
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Visit OpenUK Meet-up Page to see our meet-ups and to sign up.
Register Now
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Why not let your hair down with them at the OpenUK Christmas Party on 17 December? |
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OpenUK Roundtable: Filling the Skills Gap with Open Source
Our political engagement continues after the Summer Recess with a combination of events at political party conferences and further roundtables in Parliament. We will be covering the inevitable AI, as well as Digital Sovereignty – one of the first discussions to tackle this.
More roundtables will be shared shortly, and our rescheduled Skills Gap session will be hosted by Sarah Edwards MP on 5 November. These events are held in committee rooms within the Palaces of Westminster, under Chatham House rules and are not open to the press.
Join our Panels at Labour Party Conference 2025 in Liverpool, in Partnership with SME4Labour
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Events we are attending
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Engineering & Developer Conference, BTW2025 24 October, Birmingham Amanda Brock, CEO of OpenUK, will be giving a Keynote Speech at BTW25 Promo Code: EngDev2025 |
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AI Impact Summit Podcast
Following our Summer events in India on the Road to the AI Impact Summit, led by Hiren Parekh and Amanda Brock, Amanda was interviewed by Baratheon Reddy of Policy Organisation Takshashila. You can listen to their AI openness and Impact Summit discussion across a wide range of topics, including Sovereignty, on Spotify Link to Podcast.
We are keen to hear from anyone who wants to get more involved in our activities, so drop us a note mailto:admin@openuk.uk.
Please follow us on LinkedIn to keep up with our news as it happens between newsletters.
Best wishes,
Amanda
Amanda Brock, CEO
For information on anything in this newsletter or to get involved, email us.
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