Saturday, 17 May | 9:30am | Location: Limassol, venue TBA
This is one of a series of unconferences (open space gatherings with an emergent agenda) aiming for impact in tech policy, in Cyprus and beyond.
The tech industry celebrates disruption and innovation—yet too often sidesteps the deeper conversations we urgently need: What kind of digital futures are we building? For whom? By whom? At what cost? The Cyprus Tech Policy Unconference is an invitation to pause, regroup, and reclaim the narrative. To centre ethics, digital sovereignty, and the commons in our thinking about technology. We seek to challenge extractive models and nurture free, fair, and participatory infrastructures for governance, education, and life.
We call together:
– People who think and work towards digital rights and the democratisation of technology,
– Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS) developers, educators, researchers, creatives, and community organisers,
– People interested in co-creating ethical digital policy and resilient community tech
– People invested in mapping the obstacles and opportunities for free/libre software in public institutions, schools, and cultural spaces,
– People interested in the Right to repair, and the “public money public code” movement
– Practitioners and policy-makers looking to move toward grounded, implementable strategies for digital justice,
– People interested in connecting the above priorities with sound business practices.
What to expect
A fluid, minimally guided, participant-led networking, brainstorming, and co-working atmosphere, following the principles of Open Space Technology: sessions are proposed and shaped by attendees themselves, allowing for spontaneity, relevance, and co-ownership of the agenda.
Space for panels, co-writing labs, workshops, and policy roundtables.
Emphasis on dialogue, transparency, and co-creation.
What Open Space can look like
– The Basics – https://youtu.be/XCPZ5iQLlnA?si=8q3l7NRx6_06FR3_
– The potential – https://youtu.be/WQj12jmLGr4?si=AM660pl2L7BUAZVX
For a live / updated version of the below go to
https://mypads.framapad.org/mypads/?/mypads/group/ngi0-cyprus-rf8uz7ca/pad/view/programme-17-neme-d4gaa7j4
Initial schedule
09:30 | Gathering
10:00 | Kick-off
10:00 | 11:00 Session Planning
11:00 | 13:30 Parallel sessions
13:30 | 15:00 Potluck Lunch
15:00 | 16:30 Parallel sessions
16:30 | Outcomes
18:00 | End of day
Fringe Programme
18:30 | rethinking the presentation of generative artworks w/ Alexandre Burton and Line Nault
@NeMe – https://www.neme.org/projects/presentation-of-generative-art
**20:00 | Dinner & ELLAK Cyprus Beer Assembly**
_______________________
Session proposals
– Let’s connect powerful FLOSS advocates across Cyprus academia, in for a next level (Un)conference on Tech Policy in Education.
– Let’s populate the following programme on Ελεύθερα Δημιουργικά Εργαλεία – Free Creative Tools
https://mypads.framapad.org/mypads/?/mypads/group/ngi0-cyprus-rf8uz7ca/pad/view/eley8era-anoixta-ergaleia-gia-dhmioyrgei-ya3rx7pe
– Let’s work out the requirements for a Repair Cafe – https://www.repaircafe.org/en/join/start-your-own/
– Co-write/adjust an open letter / policy paper DRAFT: Strategic Collaborations Between Cyprus and the United States: Opportunities and Risks in Education and Technology
https://mypads.framapad.org/mypads/?/mypads/group/ellakk-2025-eqru27fd/pad/view/strategic-collaborations-vxk3a7yl
[insert proposal]
Confirmed participants
Chrystalleni Loizidou, PhD, NGI0/NLnet Regional Representative (co-facilitator)
Marios Isaakides (co-facilitator)
Yiannis Colakides (NeMe host)
Theodotos Andreou (EL/LAK Cyprus)
[insert name]
The Cyprus Tech Policy Unconference is organised with the support of
Next Generation Internet Zero (NGI0), by NLnet and the European Commission,
the Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic)
ELLAK.org.cy
NeMe.org
101.CY
hack66.info
[insert name]
Contact
+357 99 586369
Unconference room:
https://matrix.to/#/!XKYpLyMUcnjUqDeKKT:matrix.org?via=matrix.org
EL/LAK Cyprus:
https://matrix.to/#/#ellakcy:matrix.org
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