OS2 - Public Collaboration & Open Source

The initiative OS2 - public digitization community is an association of public institutions in Denmark that work together to develop and share digital solutions. The association aims to streamline and modernise the public sector through the use of open source in digitization, with the overall goal of creating better service and experiences for citizens. 

OS2 serves as a platform where members can collaborate across municipalities, regions, and the state to develop, implement, and maintain digital solutions. Through this collaboration, members can leverage shared resources, experiences, and expertise, contributing to a more efficient and cohesive public sector. 

An important part of OS2 is the association's governance model and the ownership and management of source code behind the digital solutions. It’s the power to be able to share technical solutions among members and the sharing of knowledge, experiences, and ressources. 

Collaboration and sharing occurs through physical meetings, workshops, and conferences, as well as through an online platform where members can share information, discuss topics, and ask questions to each other. This knowledge sharing is crucial to ensure that members can benefit from each other's experiences and achieve better results in the digital projects organised within OS2.

In practice, OS2 works to develop and implement concrete digital solutions that can be used across the public sector. This can range from digital self-service solutions to administrative systems and data exchange between different public institutions. By collaborating on the development of these solutions, members can achieve economies of scale, reduce costs, and ensure high quality in the implemented solutions. 

Overall, OS2 plays an important role in promoting the digitization of the public sector in Denmark. Through the collaboration among members, the community contributes to creating a more efficient, cohesive, and service-oriented public sector that ultimately benefits citizens. 

Open source plays a crucial role in OS2. The community is based on the principles of openness and sharing of digital solutions. By using open source software and tools, members of OS2 can benefit from existing resources, contribute to the further development of solutions, and share their own customizations with the rest of the community. 

Open source allows members to inspect and customise the code behind the digital solutions, ensuring transparency, flexibility, and independence. It also means that members can avoid vendor lock-in, as they are not tied to proprietary systems or vendors. 

By applying open source principles, OS2 can also contribute to the development of new and innovative solutions. Members can collaborate to improve existing open source solutions or develop entirely new solutions based on open standards and technologies. This promotes a culture of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and continuous improvement throughout the community. 

In short, open source plays a crucial role in OS2 by enabling collaboration, sharing, and innovation in the development of digital solutions for the public sector in Denmark. 

Currently OS2 has 82 members, which is 84% of the 98 Danish municipalities. The initiative manages 25 open source codebases/products and communities. Our data shows that 20 of these codebases are used 394 times across all 98 Danish municipalities, meaning that each municipality on average uses four of the open source products governed by OS2. In addition, 136 people from 48 different municipalities actively participate in maintaining these codebases. Five people have it as their full-time job, while another seven have it as their part time job. The OS2 initiative has put open source and co-created digital solutions on the map in Denmark.