OpenUK, the not for profit organisation representing the UK's Open Technology sector, has announced the first tranche of a packed plenary speaker line-up for the State of Open Con 24 (SOOCon 24) taking place on February 6-7 at The Brewery in London. It will feature tech luminaries including Professor Neil Lawrence, the Inaugural DeepMind Professor at the University of Cambridge; Stormy Peters, Head of Community at GitHub; and Emad Mostaque, Founder at Stability AI. All alongside the founder of the Open Source Initiative and creator of the Open Source Definition, Bruce Perrins. 

The future of open source is being decided today. It's the submarine that underlies the digital economy. According to the Synopsys 2023 Report, 96% of commercial codebases have open source software dependencies.  However, this growth in adoption and its apparent success have brought head-on challenges. The pace of adoption has not been matched by the pace of understanding of good practices in its usage; maintainers are overburdened; companies commercialising it are struggling; regulators and policy makers struggle to understand it and therefor to make regulation fit for purpose; and understanding the risk of security threats in the software supply chain have been skewed by high profile security incidents on open source vulnerabilities.  Is it in crisis? Global open source leaders will convene at SOOCon24 to understand what its future is and how these challenges to our digital future may be met.

AI and open source was the elephant in the room through 2023. An add on to conversations, open source and the other shades of open being applied to AI wasn't even formally on the agenda of the UK November AI Safety Summit, despite being core to the future of AI and risk management. This debate will finally be heard with genuine experts in open source at SOOCon24, as world leaders in this space discuss openness, AI and the potential impact on both the future of artificial intelligence and open source.

 SOOCon24's plenary speakers will get to the heart of the key issues in our open source driven digital economy, looking at the Future of Digital and Open Source on Day one and AI Openness on Day two.  The conference features over 170  speakers across the plenaries and 8 tracks, including more than 20 CEOs and founders and a slew of speakers travelling to the UK from the Bay Area and across the globe. Accelerating cross-sector engagement by bringing together attendees and speakers from the worlds of tech, business, law, policy and government, this unique event enhances the UK's leadership as the number one contributor to open source in Europe with 3.2million GitHub accounts.

Amanda Brock, CEO of OpenUK, said, "Conversations that small expert groups have been sharing in silos will be opened up to the broader audience via the SOOCon24 plenaries which will share the real challenges and risks to the future of open source and its impact on AI. Sometimes there's a perception that the myth of the developer in the basement is the reality of open source. That's a world away from reality. Their code is a gift of the individual to society with a profound effect on innovation. We will also discuss what open source really means and other shades of openness.

"In 2023 AI changed the game across the economy - both its impact on innovation and creating a pressing need to develop a deep understanding of it. Now, more than ever, we need the leading lights of our industry to come together to discuss and share what comes next. State of Open Con 24 will provide just that, welcoming experts from across tech, academia and policy for two days of exciting and engaging sessions.

"Crucially, this is not another conference that is a closed shop. Our conference is founded on openness to the broader and diverse community, welcoming attendees of all levels to get inspired, meet their peers, and maybe even find the next stepping stone in their career."

"The future of Open Source is a big tent with lots of voices, and I want to meet and learn from them all. This is why I am coming to State Of Open Con."  Jono Bacon, CEO, Community Leadership Core

Subsidised Price to accelerate Skills Development in the UK

To hear these incredible speakers, exclusive book signings, and much more, tickets are available now at a heavily subsidised price of £199 per two day ticket. Free tickets are also available to those who need, with 100 free tickets for community, and unemployed student participants. Join more than 1000 expected attendees at State of Open Con 24 and buy tickets now here.  

The conference tickets are massively subsidised at £199 thanks to the support of sponsors including Arm, Avanade, Google, GitHub, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Overseas Development Institute, Open Invention Network, Cisco, Stability AI, Innovate UK. The Open Data Track is curated by the UK's Open Data Institute. Around 40 other organisations will be joining the delegate experience area as table holders, sharing information about their projects. 

To be part of this transformative event and engage with leading minds in the tech industry, buy your ticket here or apply for a free ticket at admin@openuk.uk