Developing the future UK tech sector through open source contributions

We are the UK not for profit organisation for the business of Open Technology, being open source software, open source hardware and open data which includes standards and AI. OpenUK is the convening point of conversations and communities in Open Technology for the UK and beyond sitting at the intersection of engineering, business, law and policy.OpenUK's mission is UK leadership and global collaboration in Open Technology which it promotes through our 3 Pillars:Community: creating a clear and loud voice for the Open Communities in the UK;Legal and Policy: making the UK a great place for Open and business using it; andLearning: by promoting education and learning in skills in Open Technology.OpenUK is a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee registered in England at 8 Coldbath Square, London EC1R 5HL |  Company number 11209475 | VAT Registration Number: GB379697512 |Website:https://openuk.uk/C﻿ontact: admin@openuk.uk

OpenUK

OpenUK introduces skills development through open source contribution to the global tech sector, enhancing skilled individuals across the UK

House of Commons Committee Room 09

As the UK seeks to become the next Silicon Valley it faces the challenge of a skills gap. Talent flight and migration has always attracted UK talent to the US. Whilst this is typical of all countries a common language has made this more apparent in respect of UK talent.Open source software offers individuals based anywhere in the UK with a device, connectivity, and basic education in tech the opportunity to develop and hone their skills through code and other contributions to open source projects.As they contribute to projects they build a living CV on GitHub etc. This and their progress can be seen by users of these projects and GitHub across the planet.With the ability to remote work, open source employees are based globally and work for top international companies from High Tech to start-ups across the world, and particularly the Bay Area where open source is best understood as forming the basis of today's digital world.By building this living CV on GitHub UK-based talent may move from being part of the open source community to employed individuals leveraging the skills they have honed in open source with their global employers. Many will go on to build careers as part of the global tech sector despite remaining in the UK.These individuals crew the open source submarine under the UK's digital economy and in 2022 27% of UK tech sector Gross Value Add (GVA) came from them and UK based open source companies. This number has the potential to grow to benefit the UK economy whilst at the same time we see talent flight stemmed.OpenUK has been building awareness of the UK-based open source businesses and individuals contributing both code and other skills to global open source projects, products and companies. The UK is number one in Europe in terms of the number of contributors to open source software and lines of code contributed. You can see more in its reports, particularly its 2023 Skills report,<a href="https://openuk.uk/stateofopen/" title="https://openuk.uk/stateofopen/" target="_blank" data-msys-clicktrack="0" rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer">OpenUK Reports</a>

Agenda

Please pass through Security to arrive in good time, bring photo ID and invite

OpenUK Skills Round table

Skills Documentary - 7 minutes

Hear from some of those UK based individuals who have based successful and lucrative open source careers

Voices of UK Open Source

Launch of the OpenUK Open Manifesto asks for Parliamentarians in this year of elections

The Open Manifesto

Q & A

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Developing the future UK tech sector through open source contributions

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