UK Research and Innovation partners with OpenUK to create national guidance that empowers the UK public sector to release, curate, and procure open source software.
UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) has joined forces with OpenUK to develop open source guidance aimed at transforming the UK public sector’s digital ecosystem. The initiative seeks to strengthen understanding of how government bodies can release, curate, use, and support open source software effectively while driving awareness of community development and sustainable procurement.
Under the collaboration, OpenUK will outline frameworks to help public sector organisations curate projects responsibly, encourage long-term engagement from maintainers and contributors, and build a culture of transparent, community-led innovation.
The move builds on the successes highlighted in the State of Digital Government review. Slough Borough Council’s Defra-funded Digital Urban Forest project, which deploys sensors across 31 sites to contribute to an open source environmental database, and the Ministry of Justice’s Splink tool, capable of linking a million records a minute, exemplify the transformative role of open source within the public sector.
Research from OpenUK underscores the UK’s strong position as Europe’s open source leader, contributing 27% of the nation’s digital Gross Value Added (GVA). Globally, the open source market is valued at $8.8 trillion, according to Harvard Business School.
“OpenUK’s recommendations highlight exciting opportunities for the UK to lead globally,” said Richard Gunn, Programme Director at UKRI. Amanda Brock, CEO of OpenUK, added that the initiative aims to make the UK “an exemplar by putting a well-managed open source ecosystem at the heart of sustainable software infrastructure.”
This collaboration marks a decisive step in public sector modernisation through open source leadership.
