The Digital Commons Policy Council (DCPC) is a collaborative body dedicated to advancing the responsible development, management, and governance of digital commons—shared digital resources that benefit the public and foster innovation. The Council brings together experts, policymakers, and stakeholders from a wide range of sectors, including technology, education, government, and civil society, to create and promote policies that ensure the equitable use of digital spaces and resources. The primary goal of the Digital Commons Policy Council is to ensure that (a) digital commons—such as open-source software, data, knowledge, and platforms—are accessible, sustainable, and used in ways that benefit society as a whole and (b) that the labour of those who produce these common resources is better recognised. Through research, advocacy, and dialogue, the Council works to develop frameworks and recommendations that balance innovation with fairness, while protecting privacy, security, and the public interest in an increasingly digital world.
May Workshop
Following the success of its May 2024 DCPC/CIS Policy Lab in Paris, the DCPC is collaborating with the Civic Data Cooperative (CDC) to expand on the work of the Paris event by hosting a second policy lab. This year’s event will take place in Liverpool, at the Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL), where the CDC is hosted.
In partnership with the DCPC, we aim to change the conversation around data and digital tools in the UK and other countries by promoting more participatory approaches to the design, governance, and financing of digital commons initiatives. The two-day workshop will focus on the following objectives:
● Developing a set of universal principles for the digital commons.
● Operationalizing digital commons principles by improving government engagement strategies and creating a ‘Digital Commons’ label for data, software, or internet service projects.
Additional Information
We will use the principles developed in the CDC created Digital Commons which will also launch in Autumn 2025, To learn more about the DCPC, visit their website at https://dcpc.info/, where you can access outputs from last year’s policy lab as well as additional publications.