OFA Symposium 2025: Open Technology Impact in Uncertain Times

Astor Nummelin Carlberg is OFE’s Executive Director, responsible for the overall vision, activities of the organisation and policy development. He has extensive experience of European policy making processes, communications and network-building. Astor leads conversations on Europe’s digital challenges and the role of open technologies in achieving its full potential. He sits on the board of APELL, the European Open Source Business Association. Prior to OFE, Astor worked in the European Parliament and he was educated at Middlebury College, the Free University of Berlin and Solvay Business School.

Nicholas (Nick‘) Gates is a Senior Policy Advisor at OpenForum Europe (OFE), where he works on research and advocacy related to open source software and other open technologies. Nick leads the organisation’s research efforts, including the OpenForum Academy (OFA) Symposium, its annual research conference. He also leads OFE’s advocacy work on the NGI Commons and European Open Source Academy initiatives, which are focused on digital commons and public recognition of open source in Europe.

Nick’s expertise is in open source in the public sector, open source for social good, and the funding and sustainability of the open source ecosystem. His background is in digital government policy and research, particularly on open source but also public financial management, and digital service delivery. He enjoys supporting development partners, governments, and international organisations to deliver on their agendas through applied policymaking and research.

Before joining OFE, Nick helped launch ODI Global’s Digital Public Finance Hub, a new learning initiative around the digital transformation of public finance, as a consultant at Public Digital. He began his career working on research, policy, and advocacy at the Digital Impact Alliance — conducting research on topics including national digital transformation processes, open source in government, and digital transformation policy — and was a Fellow at the Portulans Institute.

Nick holds an undergraduate dual degree from the University of Massachusetts Lowell in Political Science and History, and graduated with an MSc in Global Development from the University of Copenhagen in 2018.

Professor and Director of the E-commerce Center at FGV Rio Law. Research Lead on Platform Governance at the Centre for Technology and society. UNDP consultant and Non-Governmental Advisor for CADE (the Brazilian competition authority). Director of CPDP LatAm and Founder of the BRICS + Digital Competition Forum. PhD in International Law and Economics from Bocconi University and a JD from the University of Bologna. Over the past 15 years, he has widely researched and consulted on law, technology and regulation, particularly with a focus on the digital economy.