Why / Manifesto
Open Science and Engineering for an Open World
Compute! is a conference series dedicated to open-source software for machine learning, AI, data, and scientific computing. We unite maintainers, researchers, engineers, and practitioners who build, use, and depend on open tools to advance discovery, understanding, and technical computing in both academia and industry.
Why Open Source Matters in Science and Engineering
A Fundamental Contradiction
Science aims to understand the world, yet it often depends on tools that are closed, opaque, or restricted. It is a contradiction to seek knowledge with tools we are not allowed to understand. This is why the open-source movement is even more critical for science than for other fields: transparency and reproducibility are not optional, they are the foundation of progress.
The Power of Open Collaboration
Solutions to the most pressing challenges in science emerge when disciplines and communities work in the open. The open-source collaboration model is not just effective; it is the most powerful way to innovate, share knowledge, and build trust. By removing barriers, we accelerate progress and ensure that the best ideas rise to the top.
The Compute Layer in the Age of AI
AI is reshaping how software is written and how it reaches its users. This shift makes the open computational layer more important, not less, counter to pervasive blackbox narratives. We believe AI is at its most powerful and most steerable when it operates on tools whose semantics are well understood and inspectable in code. That is the open source computational layer this conference is about.
No Single Point of Control
Why Decentralisation Matters
Open-source thrives when it is free from the constraints of centralization. Concentrated control, whether in governance, infrastructure, or decision-making, creates bottlenecks, excludes voices, and stifles innovation. Decentralisation ensures that open-source projects remain resilient and adaptable, allowing communities to make decisions in a sovereign and autonomous fashion. We push back against strongly centralising trends, not out of ideology but to keep the field plural, resilient, and alive.
A Grassroots Movement
Compute! is built from the ground up. Every chapter, every event, and every contribution is driven by the people who use and believe in these tools. In particular, we want to give voice and weight to the maintainers whose work most users never see: the people whose everyday effort keeps shared infrastructure alive. This is not just a principle; it is a necessity for a movement that seeks to empower scientists, engineers, and practitioners everywhere.
Breaking Geographical and Institutional Barriers
The future of open-source cannot be tied to a single country, foundation, or institution. By distributing leadership, resources, and decision-making, we ensure that no one region or entity holds disproportionate influence. This is how we build a truly equitable and sustainable ecosystem.
Compute! Anywhere, Openly
Compute! events can be organized in any city, as long as the organizers commit to our principles of an openly run conference.
Compute! is not about a single programming language or technology. The shared challenges of scientific computing trump these boundaries. Whether you work in R, Python, C++, or Rust, use Jupyter or RStudio, or focus on package management or shared data formats, Compute! is a space for you. Our focus is on the common questions we all face: How do we collect, process, trust, and make sense of data?
AI-driven software development and a wave of new tooling have lowered the practical cost of crossing ecosystem boundaries. Attention shifts upward, toward methods, architecture, and the shared problems. Conversations that used to live inside one language now travel across them. Compute! is designed around that shift.
On the Compute! Conference series, we welcome content that primarily focuses on the development or intensive use of open source tools for scientific, educational and industry purposes. We promote talks around scientific computation, data analytics, data visualization, data engineering, machine learning, and related fields. We do not accept product sales pitches.
Bridging Academia and Industry
Compute! is a meeting ground across the usual divides: between academic research and industrial practice, between core developers and the people who depend on their work, between public institutions and private companies. These groups rarely share a room on neutral ground. Compute! exists to make that room exist.
Our Vision: A Global Grassroots Movement
Our goal is for Compute! to grow as a grassroots movement. We are already connected with groups around the world to see chapters form in new cities. Our vision is simple:
To create a global community where open-source scientific computing thrives, where challenges are tackled together, and where everyone has a voice.
Together, we have seen how the best ideas and tools emerge when we, as a community, take the lead, ask the tough questions, and build solutions with openness and collaboration at the core.
What / Values
What a Compute! Event Is
A Compute! event has particular characteristics that define it, wherever it happens:
- Open. Compute! stands for open source, open science, open data, open standards, open weights, open hardware; the shared infrastructure of science. Closed-source has its place in a healthy ecosystem, but it is not what this conference is primarily about.
- Community-led. The programme belongs to the people who organise and attend, not to a sponsor, a company, or a central office. A legal entity may stand behind a chapter for accounting, but it serves the purpose of the event, not the other way around.
- Chosen on merit. Talks come through an open call with published criteria, judged on their content rather than on who the speaker is. The review is accountable to the community that will attend.
- Polycentric. Open source is by nature distributed infrastructure. Compute!'s ambition is to be equally distributed in implementation and governance, across cities and nations, through autonomous chapters.
- A third place. Compute! sits between academic conference and industry trade show, as neutral ground where maintainers, researchers, and practitioners meet without institutional posture. Side tracks, Birds of a Feather, companion events foster cross-pollination.
- Crossing languages. R, Python, C++, Rust, Julia, Jupyter, RStudio: all belong to Compute! The shared problems of scientific computing travel across ecosystems, and so do the conversations.
- Honest about commerce. Open source and healthy commerce, including closed source approaches, can coexist. Companies that build on open infrastructure and contribute to it, are welcome to also showcase their products in dedicated, transparent and balanced formats. What's not welcome is treating open source and the work that goes into it as free raw material to extract from, or dressing sales pitches as talks.
- Honest about maintenance. Maintenance is work. The people who keep the software running deserve to be recognised, supported, and paid. Talks about sustainable funding and employment for maintainers are welcome on the programme, not treated as a side issue.
- AI: opportunities and risks. Our standpoint on AI is positive on opportunities and attentive to risks. Where AI expands people's understanding and agency, we welcome talks using AI or directly about it. We're critical where it overly concentrates power, takes away ownership, locks in or obscures, contrary to the open source spirit and values described above.
- Inclusive. Compute! is open to everyone regardless of background or identity. We aim for an interesting balance of seniority, welcoming all experience levels and recognising their contributions. A safe, respectful, and accessible environment is non-negotiable. See the Code of Conduct.
How / Start a Chapter
Bring Compute! to Your City
You've read the manifesto and the values. Here's the practical part: how to organise a one-shot Compute! event or a local chapter, and the one condition attached to using the name.
Using the name
To use the Compute! name, you sign a short agreement with us. It grants the use of the name for a single event, or for a set period in a given region, and asks that you organise in the spirit of what Compute! stands for: the manifesto and values described above.
That's it. The name ties chapters together across cities; the shared spirit is what keeps it meaningful. When the period ends, the agreement can be renewed. To start, write to contact@compute.events.
Getting started
Gather a small organising team.
Grassroots doesn't mean solo. Two to four committed people covering programme, logistics, and outreach is enough. Local open-source user groups (R-Ladies, PyLadies, language-specific meetups) are natural allies.
Pick a format you can sustain.
Compute! can take many shapes: a one-off gathering, a recurring evening meetup with a couple of talks, a full two-day conference. All count. Start with what you can carry and grow from there. Momentum beats ambition on day one.
Find a venue that lowers barriers.
Universities, research institutions, civic spaces, and community-minded companies often host for free or cheap. Accessible and easy to reach does more for turnout than prestigious.
Set up your review process early.
Open a public CFP, decide your criteria before submissions open, and get a small committee to score fairly. This is both good practice and part of what Compute! is about, so build it in from the start.
Keep sponsors as supporters, not gatekeepers.
Sponsorship shouldn't buy programme influence or turn talks into pitches. Keep tickets affordable, and offer remote or accessible options where you can. Sponsors who back your chapter can be featured on the main sponsor wall of the Compute! website.
Need a hand?
The community is already helping new cities form, and we can share guidance, materials, and connections. Once the agreement is signed, we will reference your event on the compute.events main page, and help spread the word through our channels. Reach out early at contact@compute.events. It is a lot easier than starting from scratch.
Together, we're stronger. 🛸