The preliminary agenda for the first-ever Open Technology Research (OTR) Symposium has been released, offering an early look at a gathering that will bring the open technology research community to Barcelona. Scheduled for 26 and 27 October 2026 at the University of Barcelona as part of Barcelona Open Tech Week, the Symposium is convened by the founding members of Open Technology Research: OpenForum Europe, the Open Source Initiative, the Open Knowledge Foundation, and the Digital Infrastructure Insights Fund.
This year’s edition is guided by the theme “Shaping the Open Transition”, a framing the organizers say reflects a shared ambition to move from diagnosis to action — from mapping the landscape of open technologies to charting a path toward their adoption, sustainability, and impact. Interest in the event has been striking: the Call for Proposals drew more than 140 submissions from researchers, practitioners, governments, foundations, companies, standards bodies, and community organizations worldwide, with the final program representing only a fraction of what was received.
The Symposium is backed by a broad set of content partners, including the Mozilla Foundation, the Open Research Community Accelerator (ORCA), the Sovereign Tech Agency, the Digital Commons Policy Council (DCPC), the Open Science Hardware Foundation, the Open Future Foundation, and Invest in Open Infrastructure. Its global reach is reflected in a speaker lineup drawn from countries including Fiji, Ireland, Australia, India, Slovenia, Brazil, the Netherlands, Canada, Sweden, Nigeria, Italy, Taiwan, Germany, Spain, and the United States.
The program is organized around six research tracks: governance, including governance and AI; open source hardware; sustainability and business models; behavioural change and adoption; open science and research infrastructure; and the public procurement ecosystem. Alongside the tracks, the event will feature keynote sessions, dedicated discussions on advancing the shared OTR research agenda, and the presentation of the Basil Cousins Award recognizing an emerging researcher.
The two-day agenda spans topics from digital sovereignty and open source AI models to open source hardware, sustainable funding for open infrastructure, and reforming public procurement. Registration is free, and the organizers note that the complete preliminary agenda, including abstracts and additional speaker information, is available on the Symposium’s website. The OTR Symposium 2026 forms part of Barcelona Open Tech Week, a broader program that also includes Mozilla Festival, Decidim Fest, the 4D Conference, the Open Source Policy Summit, and the Global Assembly for Open Source.