The UK organisation for the business of Open Technology

OpenUK – SDIA partnership

• Amanda Brock to join board of SDIA to represent role of open technology in future initiatives
• OpenUK leads consortium including SDIA, ITRenew, OpenCompute, Octopus Centre for Net Zero, and the Scottish 5G Centre in COP26 application on potential for new approaches to open technology

9th March 2021 – OpenUK today announced that the Sustainable Digital Infrastructure Alliance (SDIA) has become a Donor, supporting OpenUK’s approach to open technology and sustainable development of solutions to climate challenges. Working together, the two organisations will support the development of new technologies and services for the telecoms, technology, software, and open data markets that prioritise carbon reduction and energy efficiency in the economy.

Amanda Brock, CEO at OpenUK, will also join the board at SDIA to represent the worlds of open source software, open hardware, and open data. SDIA’s mission is to make the infrastructure powering the digital economy sustainable, while ensuring it remains open and accessible to everyone.

Amanda Brock, CEO at OpenUK said, “Climate change is something that will affect everyone. Solving the issues around energy efficiency for the digital economy will have a huge impact, particularly as the world continues to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Companies and organisations had to expand their digital services to reach people, and those implementations have commonly depended on open source software and the cloud. I’m looking forward to working with SDIA and this industry-leading consortium on how the sector can help everyone reduce their energy consumption through the use of open technology.”

Max Schulze, Executive Chairman at SDIA added, “Open standards are critical to creating a more sustainable digital economy. SDIA’s partnership with OpenUK reflects our shared drive to make technology sustainable, while emphasising a common set of values that underpin our missions. By partnering together at this crucial time of climate crisis and transformation, we look forward to taking our joint message to COP26 as well as amplifying it throughout our communities going forward.”

This partnership and appointment comes ahead of the UK hosting the United Nations’ Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) conference in Glasgow, Scotland, from 1-12 November 2021. With the event due to bring together parties from across the world to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, SDIA and OpenUK will collaborate on ways that open technology can meet these requirements ahead of COP26.

In addition to SDIA, OpenUK has convened ITRenew, the Open Compute Project Foundation, Octopus Centre for Net Zero, and the Scottish 5G Centre as partners in a COP26 proposal that will put forth a NetZero Data Centre blueprint to catalyse the information and communications technology (ICT) industry. The global technology industry is a contributor to both carbon and materials challenges, but can also provide approaches that can reduce energy and resource consumption at scale through smarter processes and automation. By combining open source hardware and software with the full closed loop model for resources, this collaboration will make it easier for the global community to achieve the required energy efficiencies and resource reduction.

Lucy Yu, CEO at Octopus Centre for Net Zero, said, “Our data-driven modelling and simulation is helping policymakers and the green finance sector discover faster and fairer pathways to net zero. We’ve put open technology at the heart of that, so that we can quickly build and contribute to a global community of collaborators. Getting to net-zero means changes have to happen across the whole system – improved energy efficiency, greener power, and decarbonisation across all industries including transport, buildings, and IT. We’re using the power of tech to support our research and analysis, but we also recognise that the tech industry itself can be a role model for decarbonisation through innovation and circularity.”

Ali Fenn, President at ITRenew, commented, “ITRenew is in the business of operationalising a global circular IT hardware industry, leveraging open hardware, working with the world’s largest hyperscale cloud service providers, and innovative global customers that seek to transform the way their data center infrastructure is deployed and managed and the impact is has on the climate. We are thrilled to be a part of this collaboration, which brings together open-source and energy experts with public sector constituents, and stands to present a holistic, unified solutions blueprint that can be adopted immediately and at scale to drive outsized carbon and materials benefits on the largest scale.”

About OpenUK

OpenUK is the industry organisation and advocacy body representing Open Technology including both businesses and individuals in open-source software, open-source hardware, and open data across the UK. As an industry organisation, OpenUK gives its participants greater influence than they could ever achieve alone. 

OpenUK is committed to promoting UK leadership in open technology and supporting collaboration between businesses, public sector organisations, government, and communities to expand the opportunities available to all around Open Technology on a global basis. It is building a visible community, and using that community’s impact to ensure that the UK’s laws and policies work for Open and promote learning in Open Technology. 

OpenUK is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee, company number 11209475.

Contact:

Mark Kember

onebite for OpenUK

+44 (0)1635 887707