In 2024, the main focus of the work of Stichting IFLA Foundation was the completion of the first phase of the Knowledge Rights 21 Programme. In agreement with the funder, the completion date was extended to 31 December (from the original date of 31 July), allowing additional time to progress towards goals.

Knowledge Rights 21

In Year 3 of the KR21 Programme, we further strengthened our work both to build capacity and deliver results that support access to research, education and culture in a digital age.

Our network of national coordinators both grew and deepened, contributing to stronger networks at the national level and progress in policies, both in government and among institutions. The effort put into building profile and demonstrating the value added by Arcadia-supported people within countries paid off in terms of their ability to mobilise stakeholders, feed into policy discussions, and make change happen.

Meanwhile, we made good use of the change from one Commission and Parliament to another, rapidly establishing relationships with key allies in both institutions. This puts us in a very good position to help deliver on a legislative agenda that our work itself helped shape, notably around the idea of a fifth freedom that we were promoting even before it became a Brussels buzzword.

Key achievements have included:

• Further research reports were published which offer a timely contribution to live policy questions, in particular around technological protection measures. We are also building on existing resources, notably around secondary publication rights and rights retention, in order to maintain momentum and shape policy discussion at European, national and local levels.
• KR21 has become a go-to stakeholder in work around copyright research legislation at the European level and in a number of member states, building on a track record of being proactive, policy-focused and relevant. We are actively advising and supporting the preparation of the European Research Area Act, and see strong alignment between the agenda of the new Commission and our own.
• Our national coordinators continued to deliver, with highly favourable laws passed or imminently to be passed, notably as concerns secondary publication rights and rights retention. Elsewhere, we were key to placing issues from eBooks to AI research on the policy agenda, and have been able to support training and support for researchers and librarians across Europe.
• Ongoing investment in communications, both through the promotion of our own materials and engagement in wider discussion, for example, from position papers to social media campaigns. We also had success in seeing KR21 work featured in the media, notably Tech.policy and Science Business.

Key actions in Year 3 have been:

• Ongoing work on earlier research work packages and the targeted commissioning of further initiatives in support of our policy goals;
• Strong promotion of commissioned work with the European Commission, Parliament and Member States, as well as active outreach highlighting the connections between support for access to research, education and culture and the achievement of wider policy goals.
• Policy-focused work at national level that has led to laws that support research (and in particular, open science), as well as creating the conditions for further change.
• Further recruitment of national coordinators, and a stronger focus on community building both among national coordinators, and by each of them in their countries, with a view to building resilience and reach.
• A targeted campaign to make the most of the change of Commission and Parliament in Brussels, both shaping agendas ahead of the elections, and connecting our issues to new priorities.

This work puts us in an excellent position as we move into Phase 2 of Knowledge Rights 21 to go further both in building capacity and delivering policy change.

We are very grateful to the Arcadia Fund for all that its support makes possible.