Open Source and Sustainability
Scottish Tech Army management team members Joanna Allen and Kirsty McIntosh attended OpenUK’s fascinating Sustainability Day at the Federated Hermes COP26 fringe venue last month. Co-sponsored by ever-collaborative Red Hat, it was a terrific way to get back into networking mode again.
This was the first in-person event we’d attended since the STA started. The venue itself was amazing – a huge inflatable village, double-yurt catering space and a bit of arctic ice on show in the cold Glasgow air, melting in front of our eyes. You could hear the CO2 being released from it - depressing and alarming at the same time. An interesting way to ram home the message that we’re all running out of time when it comes to climate change.
Open source is by its very nature a more sustainable way to use technology. Topics on the day included an opening discussion with three youngsters asking us who cares about the planet, a couple of talks highlighting the importance of open collaboration and how a lack of it is damaging the energy sector’s ability to transition at the speed required.
The keynote speech of the day was delivered by Lord Maude of Horsham – former Cabinet Minister Francis Maude – who was in charge of delivering the Government Digital Service for the UK Government. He gave a witty, informative and ultimately emotional speech that touched on several topics. He referenced the importance of digital services that work for the user. Anyone who’s used the Gov.UK site would agree that it’s a great example of user led design. Lord Maude now advises governments around the world on the same issue. My favourite soundbite of his talk was “there is no such thing as steady state anymore – if you’re not moving forward, you’re going backwards.” In an emotional ending to his talk, he made clear his belief that we cannot face the climate emergency as individuals or individual organisations – only collectively can we do what needs to be done.
Sustainability in technology is an interesting topic in itself – we’ve all heard the expression ‘software is eating the planet’. The use (and re-use) of open technology is more sustainable, but the economics of it are more of a challenge. Spotify’s former Chief Economist, Will Page, made an excellent point that ‘code’ is an asset on the balance sheet. Making it open implies a financial giveaway for no return.
OpenUK’s CEO, Amanda Brock, makes a strong argument of the value of open technology to the UK economy. In their three ‘State of Open’ reports over the last year, they cite the UK as being the main European contributor to open-source software, estimate that 89% of UK companies they surveyed run open source software and more than half of UK companies now look for open source skills when hiring.
Of course, the key message of the day was that we must work together – Salem Avan, a Director at the UN, summed it up neatly – “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.
The Scottish Tech Army has been built on the principle of collaboration and we are committed to ensuring that whatever we create for one organisation can and will be offered for use by others. We are an ‘open’ organisation at heart and we look forward to building on our new relationship with OpenUK in the coming year.