Highlights from the Digital Public Goods Alliance Annual Members Meeting 2024

This month, I had the privilege of representing the Open Source Initiative at the Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) Annual Members Meeting. Held in Singapore, this event marked our second year participating as members, following our first participation in Ethiopia. It was an inspiring gathering of innovators, developers and advocates working to create a thriving ecosystem for Digital Public Goods (DPGs) as part of UNICEF’s initiative to advance the United Nations’ sustainable development goals (SDGs).

Keynote insights

The conference began with an inspiring keynote by Liv Marte Nordhaug, CEO of the DPGA, who made a call for governments and organizations to incorporate:

Open Source first principles
Open data at scale
Interoperable Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)
DPGs as catalysts for climate change action

These priorities underscored the critical role of DPGs in fostering transparency, accountability and innovation across sectors.

DPGs and Open Source AI

A standout feature of the first day of the event was the Open Source AI track led by Amreen Taneja, DPGA Standards Lead, which encompassed three dynamic sessions:

Toward AI Democratization with Digital Public Goods: This session explored the role of DPGs in contributing to the democratization of AI technologies, including AI use, development and governance, to ensure that everyone benefits from AI technology equally.
Fully Open Public Interest AI with Open Data: This session highlighted the need for open AI infrastructure supported by accessible, high-quality datasets, especially in the global majority countries. Discussions evolved over how open training data sets ought to be licensed to ensure open, public interest AI.
Creating Public Value with Public AI: This session examined real-world applications of generative AI in public services. Governments and NGOs showcased how AI-enabled tools can effectively tackle social challenges, leveraging Open Source solutions within the AI stack.

DPG Product Fair: showcasing innovation

The second day of the event was marked by the DPG Product Fair, which provided a science-fair-style platform for showcasing DPGs. Notable examples included:

India’s eGov DIGIT Open Source platform, serving over 1 billion citizens with robust digital infrastructure.
Singapore’s Open Government Products, which leverages Open Source and enables open collaboration to allow this small nation to expand their impact together with other southeast Asian nations.

One particularly engaging session was Sarah Espaldon’s “Improving Government Services with Legos.” This presentation from the Singapore government highlighted the benefits of modular DPGs in enhancing service delivery and building flexible DPI capabilities.

Privacy best practices for DPGs

A highlight from the third and final day of the event was the privacy-focused workshop co-hosted by the DPGA and the Open Knowledge Foundation. As privacy becomes a central concern for DPGs, the DPGA introduced its Standard Expert Group to refine privacy requirements and develop best practice guidelines. The interactive session provided invaluable feedback, driving forward the development of robust privacy standards for DPGs.

Looking ahead

The event reaffirmed the potential of Open Source technologies to transform global public goods. As we move forward, the Open Source Initiative is committed to advancing these conversations, including around the Open Source AI Definition and fostering a more inclusive digital ecosystem. A special thanks to the dedicated DPGA team—Liv Marte Nordhaug, Lucy Harris, Max Kintisch, Ricardo Miron, Luciana Amighini, Bolaji Ayodeji, Lea Gimpel, Pelin Hizal Smines, Jon Lloyd, Carol Matos, Amreen Taneja, and Jameson Voisin—whose efforts made this conference a success. We look forward to another year of impactful collaboration and to the Annual Members Meeting next year in Brazil!