In an effort to support social and economic development, UNESCO and Sun Microsystems signed a Collaboration Agreement on Monday at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum 09. The agreement recognizes open source technologies as key to increase access to information, communications technologies and ICT skills training in under-served communities throughout the world. The agreement is part of UNESCO's ongoing effort to improve digital inclusion globally by partnering with the private sector. Under its terms, Sun Microsystems and UNESCO will promote the use of open source technologies, including OpenOffice.org and OpenDocument Format (ODF)...

The agreement includes the creation of a Centre of Excellence for Adoption of Open Technologies and collaboration on promoting adoption of OpenOffice.org and Open Document Format Tools. As part of these projects, Sun will provide availability, expertise and training materials for its open source software, while UNESCO will focus on promoting adoption of open technologies.

Open source technologies are cost-effective, provide increased security, and deliver enhanced accessibility for citizens. By leveraging open technologies, organizations are no longer locked-in to expensive, long-term licensing contracts that typically require additional costs for new technologies to work with legal solutions. Today, most of the Internet runs on freely available, open source software such as OpenOffice, Apache webserver, and the MySQL database.

Around the world, increasing numbers of people are adopting open source. In February 2009, the Ministry of Technology in the United Kingdom announced that it will begin directing the nation's government agencies to adopt open source.