DPI Sustainability for Health, Learning and Science

As learning, health and scientific systems grow increasingly digital, the governance of digital commons and open infrastructure has become both an urgent public interest challenge and a strategic opportunity. This session explores these issues, including through a UNESCO Panel on Open Solutions and WHO/UNICC panel on Health DPI, which will highlight how Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) and digital public goods—including open repositories, Open Access, and Open Educational Resources—can enable resilient, interoperable, and sustainable global systems.

Moving beyond open source as a mere licensing preference, the session introduces Sustainability by Design as a core governance commitment. This approach ensures that infrastructure outlasts any single donor cycle or vendor relationship by empowering stakeholders to use, reuse, share, and modify/contextualize tools to fit local needs. Central to this discussion is the role of Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) and interoperability in securing digital sovereignty and fostering locally-owned innovation.

The session features the official launch of the UNESCO Open Science Platform as FOSS, built in partnership with UNICC and constructed with CERN’s InvenioRDM as a core component. It also highlights learner-centered initiatives like the  ScholarRx platform, aligned with the 2019 UNESCO recommendation on OER, and how WHO’s health learning initiatives leverage this technology to accelerate impact for communities.

Partners: UNICC, WHO, UNESCO