The United Nations system is accelerating the adoption of open technology through Digital Public Goods (DPGs). But DPG recognition guarantees the integrity of the supply side — open licensing, privacy, and related standards — not that a solution will actually work in the field: in the first 72 hours of a disaster response, in the daily operations of a refugee camp, or in a municipality rebuilding after conflict.
This closing keynote of FOSS4G 2026 brings together speakers from various United Nations entities to share how technology is really being used in their operational contexts — and what is still missing. Together, the talks trace the value chain through which technology becomes real value on the ground: the frameworks that make openness a strategy, the capacity building that turns tools into skills, the technology transfer that grows local industries, the practice of delivering data in moments of crisis, and finally the people — those who have been beneficiaries of technology becoming its makers and its workforce.
Each speaker closes with one answer to a single shared question: what technology does your field still need? A moderated discussion then delivers those answers directly to the open-source community in the room. Held in Hiroshima, this session closes the conference by landing the story of technology on the story of human dignity.