To support social and economic development, UNESCO and Sun Microsystems signed a Collaboration Agreement on 18 May 2009 at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) Forum. At the signing ceremony, UNESCO’s Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Abdul Waheed Khan, and Executive Vice President and Chairman, Europe, APAC and Emerging Markets for Sun Microsystems Crawford Beveridge outlined details of the initiative. 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) standard, as a low-cost way to improve education with universal access to information and knowledge. They will also support the development of open and inclusive knowledge societies in developing and emerging economies.

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. UNESCO will work to identify institutions that would become partners for providing support and training in the use of OpenOffice.org and ODF.

Open source technologies are cost-effective, provide increased security, and deliver enhanced accessibility for citizens. By leveraging open technologies, organizations are no longer locked into 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. It joined the governments of Vietnam, Brazil, The Netherlands, Denmark and South Africa among others that have recognized the power of open standards or open source technology solutions for the benefit of their citizens to reduce costs, lower barriers of entry, improve security and bridge the digital divide.

Sun's collaboration agreement with UNESCO is part of the company's broader initiative to bring more people into the information network and to allow them to gain access to the tools, skills, technology and innovation to realize their full potential.