From November 4 to 9, Barcelona will host the first Open Tech Week, a decisive week to position the city as a global benchmark in open technologies and digital rights. At a critical moment for technological sovereignty, this initiative brings together the most relevant voices in digital democracy and free software.
Public institutions, digital activists, free software communities and social organizations converge to claim technological sovereignty as a fundamental right. Because technology can and must serve people, not corporate interests.
Building technology as a public good at Decidim Fest
The Canòdrom – Digital and Democratic Innovation Hub reopens its doors for the Decidim Fest 2025 on November 4, 5 and 6. Organized by the Decidim Association and the Barcelona City Council, with the support of the Barcelona Provincial Council, the festival will bring together public institutions, digital communities, social organizations and activists to imagine and build public, open and sustainable technologies.
Technology as a public good is not a utopia. Decidim, created in Barcelona in 2017, is now used by 450 institutions worldwide. In the city, decidim.barcelona has 180,000 registered users and more than 30,000 citizen proposals, demonstrating that cities can build their own democratic and sovereign digital infrastructures.
The global perspective returns to Barcelona with the Mozilla Festival
From November 7 to 9, the Poble Espanyol will host the Mozilla Festival, organized by the Mozilla Foundation, which has spent decades fighting for a fairer, more open, more human internet. After 15 years of absence from the city, the festival returns to Barcelona to bring a global perspective on digital rights, algorithmic justice and community-based technological alternatives.
At a time when algorithms decide who gets a voice and who is silenced, the festival becomes an essential space to rethink the digital future. Its celebration in Barcelona reinforces the city’s international image as a reference in open and social technologies.
A necessary alliance
The convergence of Decidim Fest and the Mozilla Festival is no coincidence. It represents the necessary alliance between the local open technologies movement, in which Barcelona is a pioneer, and the global network for digital rights. While Decidim proves that cities can build democratic and sovereign digital infrastructures, Mozilla brings years of efforts to promote alternative models to the dominant internet.
Other events for digital sovereignty
The Open Tech Week goes beyond the two major festivals. Around this decisive week, Barcelona will host other key events that reinforce the commitment to digital rights:
The GIGA Agenda, an initiative promoted by UNICEF and ITU, will bring to the city the debate on public policies for internet accessibility and global connectivity as a public infrastructure. Because access to the internet cannot be a privilege but must be a universal right.
The 4d European Conference: Democratic Digitalization and Digital Rights, organized by Xnet and Accent Obert, will combine art, activism and technopolitics in a stage action proposal to question digital power and activate collective imagination. Because changing technology also means changing the way we imagine it.
In addition to the program, the Barcelona City Council will launch the path towards a City Pact for Digital Rights and Democratic Technologies, a collective commitment to move towards a city that places people, digital rights and public technologies at its core. On Thursday, November 6, from 5:00 to 6:30 p.m., an initial proposal will be presented at the Canòdrom, the result of collective work among actors and organizations promoting a fair, equitable and sustainable digitalization of Barcelona.
While the Smart City World Congress, the showcase of major tech corporations, takes place at Fira Gran Via, the Open Tech Week demonstrates that another technological model is possible. One of platforms that do not sell our data and digital tools that strengthen democracy instead of eroding it.
