Public Code Observatory: Mapping Public Sector Contributions to Open Source Worldwide

Open source software is increasingly recognized as a strategic asset for digital sovereignty, digital public infrastructure, scientific collaboration, and inclusive knowledge societies. These priorities are reflected in major international frameworks, including the UN Global Digital Compact, the Pact for the Future, the UNESCO 2021 Recommendation on Open Science, and the UNESCO 2019 Recommendation on Open Educational Resources.

Advancing these objectives requires a better understanding of how governments and public institutions contribute to the global open source ecosystem. While open source software underpins many public services and digital systems, there is still limited visibility into the role of public-sector organizations in creating, maintaining and sustaining it.

This session will mark the beginning of a collaborative process to develop a Public Code Observatory, an initiative designed to improve understanding of public-sector participation in open source software worldwide. Drawing on data from Software Heritage and ecosystem analytics partners, the initiative will explore how contributions associated with public institutions can be identified and mapped at a global scale.

As part of this process, preliminary datasets and methodologies will be made publicly available through United Nations repositories and opened for consultation with Member States and other stakeholders. The objective is not to present a final assessment, but to invite feedback, improve data quality, and collectively develop a trusted evidence base on public-sector engagement in open source.

The session will discuss how such an Observatory could support international priorities related to digital sovereignty, open science, digital public infrastructure and inclusive knowledge societies, while helping governments better understand and strengthen their role in the global open source ecosystem.

Partners: Software Heritage, UN-ODET, UNESCO