Annual Report 2025
In 2025, we demonstrated that technology can be done differently: in an open, long-lasting, resilient and affordable way, to solve people’s problems. It was a turbulent and monothematic year, with a great deal of noise surrounding the AI bubble. We also embraced this trend, but in our own way: we explored open and commons-based governance mechanisms and tools to democratise data and AI.
During transformative times for knowledge sharing, our advocacy work focused on alliances for truly open solutions with global and local influence at various levels. We have participated in dozens of conversations and fora, always pushing an agenda for a fair, sustainable, and open future. Our publications and events have followed suit, inspiring and promoting projects with critical perspectives, open sharing, and joint action at their core. Our Network has remained active and is expanding into new countries.
While our work has been impacted by rapid technological, social, and political shifts, we have responded to the challenges of our times, applying the lessons of two decades of visionary work. The result is a recalibrated strategy, with increasingly active and vibrant communities, and recognition from all sides.
One particular recognition that made the year worthwhile: Open Data Editor joined CKAN as our second digital public good (DPG).
In 2026, our strategy is 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 and advance digital autonomy and sovereignty for all.
This is how we continue to fight for open knowledge through technologies in the public interest.
Year Highlights
A quick overview of our strategic objectives in four videos
In 2025, we…
Advocated for The Tech We Want with High-impact Sectors and Across the Open Movement
Our umbrella initiative took off in public discourse and influenced communities and stakeholders to consider alternative approaches to technology.
Made the Tech We Want and Shared How We Did It
The Open Data Editor (ODE) has focused our efforts on leading by example. It empowers non-technical users working with tabular data to output clean, interoperable datasets ready for publication – while preserving privacy, remaining lightweight, and employing open standards for maximum reuse and integration.
Designed Methodologies and Tools for Open Collaboration and Governance to Grow and Sustain the Digital Commons
We have sought to contribute at various scales, from global discussions to dozens of community gatherings and open sessions. We have also collaborated with renowned study centres, such as in the Sustainable Data Commons project. Our latest publication, ‘The Tech We Want: Read This Before You Build’, demonstrates our commitment to open collaboration for the common good.
Influenced the Paths of Data Governance and the Safeguards for Digital Public Infrastructure Globally
OKFN obtained a seat and the Interoperability leadership of the United Nations Commission on Science and Technology for Development (CSTD) Working Group on Data Governance at All Levels, where we advocate for an end to data monopolies and unprecedented access to knowledge. We also participated in the Digital Public Goods (DPG) Privacy Expert Group, where we introduced new privacy requirements and a best practices annex to help DPGs anticipate, prevent, and not cause harm by default as they advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A Timeline of OKFN’s Global Impact
Remember the top moments of Open Knowledge in 2025
January
Reflecting on the Super Election Year 2024
We brought together leading voices from around the world to reflect on the Super Election Year 2024, as part of The Tech We Want initiative.
At the ITU event in Geneva, Renata Ávila emphasised that SDGs will not be achieved without a different technology stack that is interoperable and open by design – such as CKAN.
February
Cooperation agreement with Guatemala
OKFN started coordinating projects and training programmes aimed at improving the knowledge of public servants about open data, as well as developing DPI from the management of the Government of Guatemala.
Open Data Day 2025 Mini-Grant Winners
36 organisations from all over the world were selected to receive funding for their ODD events, thanks to the sponsorship of OKFN, Datopian and CAFDO. A special stream was dedicated to applications from Francophone Africa.
March
Open Data Editor: 1st Group of Pilot Organisations
Selected organisations from Kenya, France, Croatia and Nepal started to integrate ODE into their internal workflows and help with the app development.
From March 1 to 7, we saw powerful bottom-up energy across 189 events in 57 countries and more than 15 languages. Inspiring fact: 75% of events took place in countries from the Global Majority.
UN CSTD Working Group on Data Governance
Renata Avila was one of the appointed experts and the Interoperability co-leader of the working group, where she started advocating for breaking down data monopolies and delivering unprecedented access to knowledge.
We convened maintainers, users, and contributors of Frictionless Data to discuss the challenges, priorities, and governance for the project under The Tech We Want principles.
April
Renata Ávila delivered a keynote to 2,000 developers in India at an event organised by IIIT Hyderabad and Swecha with experts and institutions developing people-centric AI.
The app was migrated to a different architecture, significantly improving the user experience and adding features identified as essential in the various feedback sessions and pilots.
Legal Frictions for Data Openness
We supported a study by Ramya Chandrasekhar under the Sustainable Data Commons project, which explores legal hurdles in using open data for AI training. It highlights the tensions between legal imaginations of data flows and computational processes involved in training foundation models.
May
We published educational texts and videos explaining how pilot organisations were using the Open Data Editor in practice. The use cases cover government data, housing data, air quality data and arms expenditure data spanning various countries.
Training for Trainers Programme
We brought back the School of Data community to multiply our literacy initiatives around the world. Most of the participants delivered in-person versions of the course later in the year, reaching an estimated 500 people from various target audiences.
Spain National Open Data Meeting
In the Canary Islands Statistics Institute (ISTAC), Patricio Del Boca highlighted the maturity of CKAN for large organisations and introduced the Open Data Editor as a tool for governments to ensure public data quality.
June
In Oslo, Renata Ávila joined a high-level panel discussion, where she unpacked the role of existing and future digital public goods (DPGs) in helping provide adoptable and adaptable digital components that meet regional, and – where possible – global needs.
Open Data Editor: 2nd Group of Pilot Organisations
Selected organisations from Cambodia, Mexico, Ghana, India and South Africa started to test new responsible AI-powered features that would later be integrated into the app.
In Vienna, at the 4th International Digital Security Forum (IDSF), we launched a human-centric initiative to make PeaceTech truly accessible to peacebuilders around the world.
July
On 8–9 July, we brought together 34 speakers from 19 countries in an event to rethink technology for non-technical professionals – including data practitioners, communicators, project managers, and advocates.
Open Sessions and Community Workshops
From July to October, we run a series of four monthly online meetings to address key issues concerning the Open Data Editor project’s present and future. The workshop about AI literacy in September was the highlight.
Leveraging our partnership with CIS-CNRS, we published the ‘Towards a Sustainable Data Commons Ecosystem’ draft report, based on interviews with open data project leaders across 12 countries about the current challenges and opportunities they see in the fields of local government data, open science, and open graphic design.
August
We released a refreshed platform for the School of Data project, providing a modern hub for anyone looking to build powerful data skills for change. Every single course and resource is now completely free, open-access, and requires no registration.
Following intensive user research and community feedback sessions, we integrated an AI functionality to enhance the core function of ODE – improving the quality of uploaded data – in a non-extractive, privacy-preserving way with local, offline LLMs.
The strategy of training multipliers to spread digital literacy proved to be successful. Dozens of reports of in-person courses held in communities around the world arrived in August, most of them in countries in the Global South.
September
We released a new publication: a field guide on how to develop tech with communities. Our team reflects the process of creating tools for real people’s needs, and on what it takes to unlearn approaches that do not serve communities.
In Bologna, our team attended a series of sessions at csv,conf,v9. Sara Petti delivered a keynote speech about the Open Data Editor and Andrés Vásquez took part in the CKAN community meeting.
ODE, recommended by the Knight Center for Journalism
In a thoughtful article, the organisation reported on how ODE is helping journalists tell better stories with data, with a special focus on Latin American newsrooms.
A Commons-based Copyright Licensing Model
We supported a research paper by Melanie Dulong de Rosnay and Yaniv Benhamou under the Sustainable Data Commons project. They propose restrictions and boundaries to protect the commons, allowing communities to define and maintain the political values they choose.
October
Open Data Editor, a Digital Public Good
The Digital Public Goods Alliance (DPGA) officially recognised that ODE contributes to achieve the SDGs and meets the highest standards of openness, accessibility, and public benefit.
Most of our team took an active part in the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Summit in Spain. Renata Ávila took part in a High-Level Session about DPI and Patricio Del Boca debated open data and AI. We also run two side events, on the Local Stack and Data as a Commons Infrastructure.
In Barcelona, Renata Ávila moderated a roundtable on the current geopolitical challenges for digital sovereignty. She shared ‘recipes’, lessons and strategies for navigating technological and democratic governance.
November
Open Technology Research Network
We joined forces with OpenForum Europe (OFE) and Open Source Initiative (OSI) to strengthen the global open technology research community starting in 2026. The announcement was made in Rio de Janeiro during the OpenForum Academy Symposium, of which we are content partners.
In Brasília, we showcased the full potential of CKAN at the Digital Public Goods Product Fair. We also took part in many sessions around DPG’s transparency and interoperability, adn led discussions on an alliance to build locally adapted solutions for Latin America and the Caribbean.
We released new introductory videos to our two digital public goods (DPGs): CKAN and Open Data Editor, using plain language and modern animations to explain how our technologies work to non-technical people.
December
AI-Ready Data Infrastructure by CKAN
We announced a new partnership with datHere to advance open standards and AI-ready data infrastructure tooling, standards and practices. The collaboration will coordinate closely with the ongoing POSE program funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF).
2026: Sector-specific AI Literacy and Trustworthy AI for Open Data
We announced an important initiative for the next year, with the generous support of the Patrick J. McGovern Foundation (PJMF). Together, we’re creating sector-specific AI literacy resources in 4 languages and developing trustworthy AI for open data.
Better Together Than Alone
What was already common practice increased in 2025, when we joined forces with like-minded organisations to build a better digital future. Below is a list of some of the partnerships, coalitions and alliances that we actively participate in or have endorsed during this period.
A Special Thanks to Those Who Make Our Work Possible
The work conducted this year would not be possible without the collaborations established with the high-impact organisations we provide services to. Our low-bono data infrastructure and literacy services contribute to advancing our mission, and we are honoured and grateful to help them advance theirs and learn from each other.
Thank you to the teams at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI/BCIE), and the UN World Food Programme (WFP) for trusting us as we advance digital infrastructure that is open, rights-preserving, and people-centric.
OKFN would also like to thank the generous contributions we received from individual donors in 2025. Your support helps us fulfil our mission to promote openness as a design principle and build a fair, sustainable, and open future.
Without their generosity, our mission would remain an aspiration rather than a reality. We are honoured to have you as a valued member of our community.
OKFN is recognised as equivalent to a US public charity through the NGOsource Equivalency Determination (ED) certification.
If you’re not yet a donor, consider making a one-off or recurring donation by clicking on the button below.
How to Get Involved
To follow the work of the Open Knowledge Foundation, you can connect with us via BlueSky, Mastodon, LinkedIn, X, GitHub, YouTube, Internet Archive, or subscribe to receive our Newsletter every month, which features updates on our projects, Network and events.
We also invite you to check our Network’s Global Directory of open knowledge specialists and Project Repository (constantly open to new submissions). You are welcome to nominate yourself or the projects you are involved in.
Let’s build together a world
where all knowledge
is accessible to everyone