Building Digital Public Infrastructure Through Open Source

This article is based on the panel "The Role of Open Source in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)" from UN Open Source Week 2025, part of the panel "The Role of Open Source in Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI)" You can watch the full recording here.

UN Open Source Week 2025 (June 16-20, 2025) brought together global leaders to facilitate dialogue and collaboration on open source, digital public infrastructure (DPI), and innovative solutions to pressing global challenges. Since its inception in 2023, this UN-led forum has captured significant international attention, demonstrating strong demand for open source and digital cooperation discussions at the highest levels.

The "OSPOs for Good" session highlighted the critical role of Open Source Programme Offices (OSPO) in connecting open-source ecosystems across UN Member States, advancing AI policy, digital governance, and innovation. Our panel, expertly moderated by Ruth Ikegah (Open Source Manager, OSPO Now), featured industry leaders who offered valuable insights into the governance models, funding strategies, and technical pathways needed to strengthen open source collaboration for digital public infrastructure.

The Infrastructure Analogy: Airports, Airlines, and Digital Ecosystems

Miller Abel (Deputy Director and Principal Technologist, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation) opened the discussion with a compelling analogy that resonated throughout the panel. "Think of airports versus airlines," Abel explained. "Airports are public infrastructure—their primary purpose is to bring interoperability and lower the cost of operation for airlines, which bring services to end customers. Airlines can't work without airports, and airports aren't valuable unless they have airlines."

This analogy perfectly captures the essence of DPI: creating the foundational digital infrastructure that enables innovation and service delivery across both public and private sectors. Just as airports require open standards—from communication protocols between pilots and air traffic control to standardized runway markings—digital public infrastructure requires open standards and implementations that create a base of interoperability.

Linux Foundation Europe: Stewarding Critical Digital Infrastructure

Gabriele Columbro, General Manager of Linux Foundation Europe, emphasized the organization's crucial role in stewarding some of the largest open source projects by adoption. "We provide legal support and neutral governance for public sector, private sector, and individuals working together on these projects," Columbro explained, highlighting how the Foundation facilitates collaboration across diverse stakeholders.

The Linux Foundation's approach to DPI operates on two complementary levels. From a horizontal perspective, the organization stewards fundamental building blocks of the internet—Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, and PyTorch in AI—that form the shared technology infrastructure powering modern digital stacks. This horizontal infrastructure directly aligns with the concept of DPI as foundational technology that enables innovation across sectors.

Equally important is the Foundation's vertical industry approach through specialized foundations like the FinTech Open Source Foundation (FINOS), which brings together large financial institutions to collaborate on open source solutions. Similar efforts in energy and telecommunications sectors demonstrate how open source collaboration can address sector-specific needs while maintaining the benefits of shared infrastructure development.

When addressing the critical question of how private and public sectors can collaborate effectively, Columbro outlined five essential factors for successful open source DPI projects:

1. Strong technical foundations - "Too many open source projects are weak today and can't be used directly for DPI"
2. Active developer communities - Small communities cannot sustain enterprise-grade solutions
3. Effective communication and branding - Projects need visibility to gain adoption
4. Long-term sustainability - Consistent support over time is crucial
5. Large-scale adoption by enterprises and governments - Proven success drives further adoption

Columbro emphasized that successful DPI implementations require a careful blend of open source software with both open and closed governance models, plus commercial solutions. This pragmatic approach recognizes that mission-critical solutions need stable software, quality support, and often third-party partners committed to service level agreements.

Government as Digital Infrastructure Steward

Adriana Groh (Co-CEO, Sovereign Tech Fund) provided insights into how governments can effectively support open source infrastructure. "We focus on the software that developers need to develop software, and we call that infrastructure," Groh explained, distinguishing between different layers of digital infrastructure.

The Sovereign Tech Agency represents a new model of government engagement—what Groh called "a new government muscle" for the 21st century. By investing in maintaining digital infrastructure through public procurement, the agency ensures that foundational software serves openness, participation, and enables diverse participants to build and maintain software.

Groh offered several crucial lessons for other countries starting their DPI journeys:

• Money alone doesn't solve problems and can sometimes create wrong incentives or increase stress in open source communities
• Understanding production logics of open source is essential—governments cannot simply impose top-down governance models on communities that have worked in decentralized, volunteer-driven ways
• Public procurement is not optional but essential for sustaining open source infrastructure
• Continuous investment rather than one-off funding is necessary for long-term sustainability

Private Sector Perspectives: From Payments to Automotive

The panel showcased diverse private sector approaches to open source and DPI. Miller Abel detailed how the Gates Foundation's Mojaloop project implements open standards for payment systems, citing Tanzania's TIPS (Tanzania Instant Payment System) as an example of successful public-private collaboration in DPI.

Franck Greverie (Chief Portfolio Officer, Capgemini) highlighted how open source underpins the massive cloud applications and end-to-end digital solutions his team of 40,000 develops for public sectors and critical national infrastructure. The company's work on AI and humanoids represents the innovation potential when open source serves as a foundation for cutting-edge development.

Wolfgang Gehring (FOSS Ambassador & OSPO Lead, Mercedes-Benz Tech Innovation) provided a striking example of open source adoption in traditional industries. "Our latest E-class model has up to 3,000 FOSS components in it," Gehring revealed, demonstrating how deeply embedded open source has become in products where safety, security, and quality are paramount.

The Path Forward: New Models for Public-Private Collaboration

Peter Gunton (Founder and CEO, Univention, and Chairman of the Board, Open Source Business Alliance Germany) concluded the panel with a call for new procurement models that better serve both public and private interests. Rather than governments building their own products or falling into proprietary dependencies, Gunton advocated for a model where:

• Governments actively seek commercial open source software for needs that could benefit multiple administrations
• Public sector encourages commercialization of solutions built for their needs
• Procurement insists on true open source software and adherence to open standards
• A competitive, open market for solutions is maintained

This approach leverages the scale and incentives that make proprietary software vendors successful while maintaining the transparency, interoperability, and freedom from vendor lock-in that open source provides.

Building Tomorrow's Digital Infrastructure Today

The UN Open Source Week 2025 panel demonstrated that building effective digital public infrastructure requires more than good intentions—it demands sophisticated understanding of open source ecosystems, careful governance models, and innovative approaches to public-private collaboration.

As Gabriele Columbro and the Linux Foundation Europe continue to steward critical open source projects and facilitate collaboration between diverse stakeholders, their work becomes increasingly vital to creating the transparent, cost-efficient, interoperable, and innovative services that citizens deserve.

The challenge ahead is not whether to embrace open source for DPI, but how to do it effectively. The insights shared at this UN panel provide a roadmap for governments, organizations, and companies ready to invest in the shared digital infrastructure that will power innovation and serve the public interest for decades to come.

Watch the full panel discussion: The Role of Open Source in Digital Public Infrastructure