In the r/opensource subreddit, a really good question was asked by u/Fandekasp
Is there an awesome list of open source projects dedicated to tackling global challenges?
I promised to set one up here at Pangloss Labs and as we’re not far from the United Nations in Geneva I’ve used the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals as categories. Here it is, a list of open source hardware and software projects from around the globe that are helping to make the world a better place.
If you know of one that we missed please just tell us and we’ll happily add it. Thanks!
SDG1 No Poverty
- Mojaloop Mojaloop is open-source software for financial services companies, government regulators, and others taking on the challenges of interoperability and financial inclusion.
- OpenCBS an innovative platform offering an Open Source Core Banking System as well as other value-added solutions for the microfinance and financial services industry
- MIfos We provide the end to end set of technologies whether you’re a user looking for software out of the box, a partner looking to resell Mifos X, or a developer looking to build your own solution for mobile banking or digital financial services.
SDG2 Zero Hunger
SDG3 Good Health & Well-Being
- MOTECH Mobile Technology for Community Health
- GNU Health A Free/Libre project for health practitioners, health institutions and governments. It provides the functionality of Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Hospital Management (HMIS) and Health Information System (HIS).
- OpenMRS The world's leading open source enterprise electronic medical record system platform.
- Safecast Safecast is a global volunter-centered citizen science project working to empower people with data about their environments.
- Careables Platform that enables citizens to co-design and deliver people-centered health products through means of digital fabrication.
- OpenLMIS A web based open source software purpose built for national governments in developing countries to use to manage their supplies of medical/heatlh commodities (medicines, bednets, etc.). The goal is to reduce stock outs of essential health products.
- LogAir An open source mobile pollution device that maps PM2.5 concentration in the air
- OpenBCI Open Source Brain Computer Interfaces
SDG4 Quality Education
- Wikipedia the free encyclopedia that anyone can edit.
- Moodle Open-source learning platform
- Kolibri makes high quality education technology available in low-resource communities such as rural schools, refugee camps, orphanages, non-formal school systems, and prison systems.
- Kiwix lets you access free knowledge – even offline. Store Wikipedia or any website on your mobile phone or computer, easily
- OER Commons OER Commons is a public digital library of open educational resources. Explore, create, and collaborate with educators around the world to improve curriculum.
SDG5 Gender Equality
- Wikigender Your online platform to share research, data and solutions to advance gender equality.
- Open Gender Project Creating and promoting a practical and inclusive way to handle gender in software.
SDG6 Clean Water & Sanitation
- OHorizons Open Source Water Purification Systems
SDG7 Affordable & Clean Energy
- OpenEnergyMonitor Open source monitoring for understanding energy. Exploring the context of renewable energy and zero carbon
- ONSSET Open Source Spatial Electrification Tool
- LF Energy Open Source for Energy Transition
- OpenEMS Open Source Energy Management System
- Hydrogen Bicycle Kit We’re developing an “open source” conversion kit to transform a “classic” bike into a hydrogen electric bike
- OSeMOSYS – Home Open Source Energy Modelling System
- Open Smart Grid Platform Open, generic, scalable and independent ‘Internet of Things’ platform for large infrastructures
- Open Energy Models Open Source Energy Modelling Systems
SDG9 Innovation, Industry & Infrastructure
- OpenHab Software for smart home management
- openTCS The open transportation control system
- OpenBuilds Build an open source machine for building things
- Oasis Loss Modelling Framework An open source catastrophe modelling platform, free to use by anyone.
- Open Source Ecology Open Source Blueprints for Civilization. Build Yourself.
- Field Ready Humanitarian Aid Supplied made in the Field
- WikiHouse is a digitally-manufactured building system. It aims to make it simple for anyone to design, manufacture and assemble beautiful, high-performance homes that are customised to their needs.
- Hydrogen Bicycle Kit We’re developing an “open source” conversion kit to transform a “classic” bike into a hydrogen electric bike
- Open Data Kit Free and open-source software for collecting, managing, and using data in resource-constrained environments.
- Open Robotics ROS for building robots, Gazebo for simulating them
- Safecast Safecast is a global volunter-centered citizen science project working to empower people with data about their environments.
SDG10 Reduced Inequalities
- MOTECH Mobile Technology for Community Health
- Open Data Kit Free and open-source software for collecting, managing, and using data in resource-constrained environments.
- Mighty House Mighty House is an open source tool kit that enables everyday people to create transitional shelter for those experiencing homelessness.
- Enabling The Future A Global Network Of Passionate Volunteers Using 3D Printing To Give The World A "Helping Hand."
- Electric wheelchair conversion kit An open kit to bring electric drive to any existing wheelchair for cheap (and -hopefully- safe)
SDG11 Sustainable Cities & Communities
- CiviCRM Open source constituent relationship management for non-profits, NGOs and advocacy organizations.
- Open Source Ecology Open Source Blueprints for Civilization. Build Yourself.
- QGIS A Free and Open Source Geographic Information System
- CoopCycle A federation of bicycle delivery cooperatives, and the open source logisitics/commerce software to power them.
- OpenFarm Grow Your Food. Farm and garden through knowledge sharing
- OpenHab Software for smart home management
- OpenDroneMap Drone Mapping Software. Generate maps, point clouds, 3D models and DEMs from drone, balloon or kite images.
- FarmBot Open-Source CNC Farming
- CityOS Open source city software available to all
- OSGeoLive a self-contained bootable DVD, USB thumb drive or Virtual Machine based on Lubuntu, that allows you to try a wide variety of open source geospatial software without installing anything.
- WikiHouse is a digitally-manufactured building system. It aims to make it simple for anyone to design, manufacture and assemble beautiful, high-performance homes that are customised to their needs.
- LogAir An open source mobile pollution device that maps PM2.5 concentration in the air
SDG12 Responsible Consumption & Production
- RepRap – RepRap RepRap is humanity's first general-purpose self-replicating manufacturing machine.
- Field Ready Humanitarian Aid Supplied made in the Field
- Open Source Circular Economy Days A global ecosystem of resilient local circular economies bound by the spirit of openness, collaboration, diversity and motivation for a thriving planet and fairer society.
SDG13 Climate Action
- xanthos Xanthos is an open-source hydrologic model, written in Python, designed to quantify and analyze global water availability.
- Public Lab Public Lab is a community where you can learn how to investigate environmental concerns.
- Apache Open Climate Workbench An effort to develop software that performs climate model evaluation using model outputs from a variety of different sources
- ffem Foundation for Environmental Monitoring
- OS-°C an Open Source collaboration community to build a software platform that will dramatically boost global capital flows into climate change mitigation and resilience.
SDG14 Life Below Water
- FOCUS The FOCUS (Fisheries Open Source Community Software) community has been established with the purpose to create and maintain free software dedicated to the management and preservation of the fishery resource.
- Open-Source Ocean Acoustics open source tools and resources in ocean acoustics
- FAO Fisheries OPEN ARTFISH stands for Open Approaches, Rules and Techniques for Fisheries statistical monitoring.
- WikiWatershed A web toolkit designed to help citizens, conservation practitioners, municipal decision-makers, researchers, educators, and students advance knowledge and stewardship of fresh water.
- FishBase A Global Information System on Fishes
SDG15 Life On Land
- Open Source Seeds Protecting seed as commons – the alternative to monopolies and corporate power!
- Open Foris Free open-source solutions for environmental monitoring
- OpenDroneMap Drone Mapping Software. Generate maps, point clouds, 3D models and DEMs from drone, balloon or kite images.
SDG16 Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
- MySociety Tools for democracy. Our code is open source
- Oasis Loss Modelling Framework An open source catastrophe modelling platform, free to use by anyone.
- ContraxSuite Open Source AI powered Legal Software
- bellingcat Tools for open source investigations
SDG17 Partnerships For The Goals
- Toolkit: Activating the 2030 Agenda An open source kit to build your own multi-stakeholder SDG lab
I’m sure I missed a whole bunch. If you know of one that we missed please just tell us and we’ll happily add it. Thanks!
