At the turn of the century, the internet gave birth to the Digital Commons — collectively created and managed resources open to the public. Numerous initiatives placed their bets on the combined power of networked information services and new governance models for the production and sharing of content and data.
Challenges Arise
Over the last decade, we have witnessed a wholesale transformation of the digital ecosystem. The web moved away from the ideals and the open design of the early internet. Today, a small number of companies control and exploit this ecosystem. In this digital landscape, openness serves as both a challenge and an enabler for these concentrations of power.
Sustaining the Open Promise
We recognize the great promise of the Digital Commons and how open sharing serves the public interest. The open internet must be preserved in order to maximize the societal benefits of shared data, knowledge, and culture. We only need to reimagine open and make it resilient against abuse and exploitation.
The New Open
To this end, our team is focused on solving challenges that the digital world currently faces while strengthening open ecosystems. Together with European Union institutions, and civil society, we put our knowledge and experience to work to ensure that the principle of openness is reflected in the EU’s digital policies. We also work with partners to support Digital Commons globally.
