Open Search Foundation honoured with the Corporate Digital Responsibility Award 2024
Delighted to receive the industry award from Bayern Innovativ GmbH and the BVDW in the category ‘Responsible Innovations’
Starnberg, 31 January – The Starnberg-based non-profit organisation Open Search Foundation e.V. (OSF) has won the prestigious Corporate Digital Responsibility Award 2024 in the category ‘Responsible Innovations’.
From the left to the right: Maike Scholz (Deutsche Telekom AG), Ursula Gmelch (OSF), Stefan Voigt (OSF), Anna Kopp (Microsoft Germany)
Copyright: Bayern Innovativ–Bayerische Gesellschaft für Innovation und Wissenstransfer mbH
Board member Stefan Voigt and OSF Community Manager Ursula Gmelch received the industry award from Bayern Innovativ GmbH and the Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) e.V. at the Bavarian State Representation in Berlin on 29 January.
‘A powerful signal for Europe’s digital self-determination and the democratised use of the web’
The Open Search Foundation is committed to independent and democratic access to information on the web through research, education and Europe-wide networking. Together with European partners, it is working on an Open Web Index that serves as the basis for a value-orientated and trustworthy internet search and many other digital services, such as AI models.
Maike Scholz, Squad Lead ‘Digital Ethics’ in Group Compliance Management at Deutsche Telekom AG and member of the jury, recognised the importance of the project in her laudatory speech:
‘Instead of concentrating control over structured, indexed web data, which serves as the basis for search engines and other digital services, on individual companies, the index is managed and made publicly accessible by a network of independent, European partners such as research centres, data centres and companies. This project sends a powerful signal for Europe’s digital self-determination and the democratised use of the web.’
An award with a signalling effect
For the Open Search Foundation, the award is a great acknowledgement of its work. Stefan Voigt, board member of the OSF, emphasises:
‘This important award shows that our work is bearing fruit and that the importance of an open internet search for business, science and civil society is increasingly being recognised. The CDR Award encourages us to do all we can to drive forward the development of a value-based European web index and thus strengthen a large number of digital innovations in the interests of Europe’s digital sovereignty.’
Dr Rainer Seßner, Managing Director of Bayern Innovativ GmbH, also emphasises the importance of the award:
‘The CDR Award not only stands for awards, but also for dialogue and knowledge transfer. The workshops at the specialist conference (editor’s note: accompanying the award ceremony) made it clear that digital responsibility begins with an openness to accept innovative and sometimes unexpected solutions.’
With the award in the bag, the Open Search Foundation is moving on to the next stage. The OSF Ethics Group will soon be organising an online event on the topic of ‘Ethics in search’. In addition, the Open Web Index will enter the next stage of development in the second quarter: the index will be made available to interested parties for extended test projects. At the same time, nine further European third-party partner projects were recently integrated into the Open Web Search initiative – their results are also expected this year.
Further information on the Corporate Digital Responsibility Award and the winning teams can be found at
https://www.cdr-award.digital/
About the Open Search Foundation e. V.
The OSF – Open Search Foundation e.V. – is a non-profit, European initiative based in Starnberg near Munich. Since 2018, it has been campaigning for independent, free and self-determined access to information on the internet and informing the public about all aspects of internet search. Its goal is an Open Web Index that takes ethics and European values into account from the outset. In the Horizon Europe project OpenWebSearch.EU, OSF is driving the topic forward with 13 other partners.
Motto: ‘Together for a better net’.