The Open Knowledge Foundation (OKFN) and datHere have established a new partnership to advance open standards and AI-ready data infrastructure tooling, standards and practices. The collaboration aims to help develop shared services, co-design project proposals, better understand the challenges for the communities we serve and strengthen the landscape of open, interoperable data across public and private sectors, making them ready for AI systems and analytics workloads.
A core pillar of the partnership is the shared commitment to CKAN, the leading open-source data management system powering hundreds of open data portals worldwide. CKAN’s role as the industry-standard solution for publishing, managing and making data Findable, Accessible, Interoperable and Reusable (FAIR) provides a strong foundation for joint work.
OKFN set the basis for the open data movement two decades ago, and now works across over forty jurisdictions, with strategic partners, to deliver open, resilient, and sustainable technologies and standards; to strengthen open knowledge, research, and capacities across institutions and communities; and to develop data and infrastructure governance models that expand the digital commons for all.
datHere specialises in AI-ready data infrastructure, with more than 30 years of combined experience deploying hundreds of standards-based open-source data portals. Their mission to make data useful, usable and used aligns strongly with OKFN’s open knowledge principles.
The alliance formalises our ongoing collaboration and exchange to contribute to and improve a data infrastructure ecosystem that can support governments, institutions, and communities worldwide, especially at a time when high-quality data is fundamental for effective, trustworthy AI systems. During the pilot year, the organisations will hold regular coordination meetings, maintain a shared workspace, and pursue funding opportunities.
The collaboration will coordinate closely with the ongoing Pathways to Enable Open Source Ecosystems (POSE) program funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), which harnesses the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance. It will also coincide with the 20th Anniversary of CKAN, which will bring our global data community together to both celebrate our achievements and future-proof our efforts to meet the challenges ahead.
For more information, please contact:
- Open Knowledge Foundation – info@okfn.org
- datHere Inc – info@dathere.com
Learn more
- CKAN: Powering Open Data Portals Everywhere
- POSE: Strengthening the CKAN Open-Source Ecosystem
- CKAN Ecosystem Catalogue: Discover the portals, extensions, and communities using CKAN to share open data worldwide.
