Food labelling laws of EU countries will be harmonized through a new directive proposed by the Commission.
The recent NEC (Numérique en Commun[s]) event served as a platform to discuss progress and future steps towards reducing digital impact, with a focus on digital commons. The event emphasized the importance of collaboration, open access, and sustainability in digital infrastructures and services.
Emphasizing Digital Sovereignty and Innovation
One of the key themes that emerged was the importance of digital sovereignty and innovation within digital commons. This approach aims to create resilient and ecologically responsible digital infrastructures. This sentiment was echoed at the NGI Forum 2025, which focuses on a sustainable next-generation internet involving innovators, policymakers, and researchers.
Sustainable Digitization and AI Initiatives
Discussions also highlighted the need to expand digitization and AI initiatives that prioritise sustainable preservation and access. For instance, Library and Archives Canada's plan to digitise vast collections while leveraging AI tools for efficient management and reduced resource use provides a real-world example of reducing digital footprint in heritage preservation through commons-based approaches.
Embedding Digital Commons Principles in Global Governance
The event also underscored the necessity to embed digital commons principles within global digital governance frameworks. This is aimed at ensuring equitable, sustainable digital inclusion and reducing reliance on proprietary and resource-intensive digital solutions.
Future Steps and Collaborations
Future steps discussed at the event and related forums include scaling up open-source and interoperable technologies to foster innovation within digital commons that reduces waste and energy consumption. There is also a push for encouraging participatory governance models that empower communities to co-manage digital commons sustainably.
Cross-sector partnerships (public, private, civil society) are being encouraged to invest in digital commons infrastructure that is environmentally sound and socially inclusive. The integration of AI and digitization is also being approached with careful attention to their environmental impact, with the aim of leveraging them to optimise resource use.
Stimulating Innovation and Standardization
Finally, further events, hackathons, and collaborative projects are being planned to stimulate innovation and standardization for sustainable digital ecosystems. These initiatives aim to create a holistic approach to reducing digital impact by integrating digital commons principles into digital sovereignty, AI-powered digitization, and sustainable governance frameworks.
In conclusion, the NEC event provided valuable insights into the future of digital commons and the steps necessary to reduce digital impact. The focus on collaboration, open access, and sustainability is a promising step towards a more responsible digital future.
[1] NGI Forum 2025: https://ngiforum.eu/ [2] Library and Archives Canada: https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/ [3] WSIS+20: https://www.itu.int/wsis/forum/2020/ [4] Digital strategy for education 2023-2027: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-plan-for-education/national-plan-for-education [5] DesignGouv - Legal obligations and sanctions: https://www.design-gouv.fr/ [6] Capytale tool for learning to code: https://www.capytale.com/ [7] Moodle Élea platform for sharing resources: https://elea.moodle.net/
- To accelerate innovation and sustainable digital development, there's a growing emphasis on data-and-cloud-computing technology that promotes digital sovereignty within digital commons, as demonstrated at the NGI Forum 2025.
- In the realm of education-and-self-development, online-learning platforms like Capytale, which teaches coding, and Moodle Élea, for sharing resources, are examples of initiatives that prioritize sustainable digitization as part of the digital commons approach.
- As we foster future collaborations in digital commons, it's crucial to integrate technology, education, and digital governance that aligns with the principles of data preservation, access, and sustainability, as discussed at events like the NEC and WSIS+20.
