The Digital Commons Policy Council (DCPC) conducts scientific research to increase recognition for the digital commons and the voluntary work that creates these common goods. The DCPC is an informal think tank which was founded in 2021 at the University of Canberra, and which builds on the earlier work of the peer-reviewed Journal of Peer Production. The DCPC produces public reports based on empirical data, submissions to lawmakers, educational resources for schools, and scientific articles. Please refer to our Actions page for more detailed information about our activities.

The DCPC’s first publication, The coproduction of open source software by volunteers and big tech firms (2021), mapped how firms are collaborating with communities of unpaid volunteers to produce open source code, used in the digital infrastructure which powers the contemporary economy. It featured invited comments by French open source specialists from the fields of academia, industry and activism, including Framasoft, a popular education association that proposes alternatives to Big Tech products, and Inno3, a consultancy firm specialising in intellectual property and organisational open infrastructure.

The DCPC held a Policy Lab with the Centre Internet et Société (CNRS) in May 2024 in Paris, France. In May 2025 a Workshop was organised in Liverpool, UK with the Civic Data Cooperative, part of the University of Liverpool’s Civic Health Innovation Labs (CHIL). In October 2025 DCPC representatives are running a side event at the OGP Global Summit in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain.