Unity Foundation and Our Commitment to Open Source
Unity Foundation, established in 2021 as a non-profit 501(c)3 community based organization, was built upon decades of research and experiential knowledge through leadership and collaboration with academia and industry. Unity Foundation aims to build an equitable ecosystem for communities through open source technology. By embracing these technologies which were designed to foster connection and transparency, organizations are enabled to implement innovative, low-cost solutions designed to improve social, economic, and sustainable community outcomes. Unity Foundation supports and encourages awareness of social consciousness, while working to remove the digital divide through reduced societal costs, barriers to entry, and enhanced transparency. Unity is facilitating secure and scalable application development by creating and integrating open source technologies.
At Unity Foundation, we are supporting underserved communities through empowerment, enablement, and knowledge transfer activities such as workforce and infrastructure development. We strive towards the pursuit of open collaborative innovation to make solutions accessible to communities and individuals, enabling and encouraging participation, knowledge sharing, and integration. Together, we can connect, uplift, and empower all members of the community, ensuring that everyone has an opportunity to succeed.
As a commitment to reusable and interoperable technologies to facilitate greater access and capability for all users, the Unity Foundation continues to make significant investments in three OSS product foundations: Grails FoundationTM, Micronaut FoundationTM, and OpenDDS FoundationTM. These non-profit entities are solely focused on ensuring the continuity and sustainability of the OSS products. Today, thousands of software engineers, researchers, and end users around the globe use and contribute to these tools, and organizations including Microsoft, Amazon, Oracle, and Google leverage these trusted tools and platforms. Unity will continue its commitment to serve as an OSS aggregator, and will scale community participation in helping define, advance, and contribute to the ongoing success and sustainability of the open source products.
The progress that OpenDDS®, Groovy, Grails® framework, and Micronaut® framework have accomplished in recent years would not have been achievable if not for the dedication and innovation of the development teams and active communities. With continued leadership and investment support from the Foundations, we are able to continue to innovate and advance these sustainable open source technologies. Each of the Foundations includes a team of people fully dedicated to the success and longevity of these open source technologies. Additionally, a volunteer Technology Advisory Board made up of thought leaders and representatives from different sectors of the technology industry. Pulling together groups of folks with diverse experiences, priorities, and areas of expertise is a huge win. The Foundations supporting these open source technologies continue to be not-for-profit. 100% of revenue generated goes back into funding development, evangelism, and support of these technologies. The goal is to further the technology, while empowering communities of people and organizations. Working together and getting everyone involved in the most valuable experience possible.
"Everything about Unity Foundation is driven by Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Action (IDEA) and our commitment to creating, supporting, and advocating for free and open solutions is strong. The open source toolkits that these 3 OSS Foundations sustain are integral in the open solutions that we are building with and for the community. We are taking OSS back home to address the needs of the community."
-- Jeff Scott Brown, Director OSS Operations
The successes of these developer Frameworks are among many examples, that together, we all can do so much more than the sum of what each of us would be able to do individually. We have been advocating for, developing, and supporting free and open source software since inception. We are equally committed to finding new ways to collaborate with community partners who desire to build and contribute to a new CommUNITY infrastructure - one that will be engineered for equity, accessibility, enrichment, and compassion for those who need it most. We believe leveraging open source software tools to provide more inherently equitable access to the information and services that support the needs of a greater community is key. Our commitment to advocating for and supporting free and open source software is a foundational priority that will not change. It is an important part of who we are as an organization and as individuals. As members of our global community, we are all passionate about creating the very best technical solutions that we can by working together and sharing with others. In everything we do, we are better doing it together. Please contact us to explore opportunities for collaboration, support our initiatives, or become a part of our growing community.