South Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) said on Monday it will expand the operation of its consultative body to respond to complex open source risks including licensing disputes, security vulnerabilities and copyright issues involving AI training data.

Open source is being used as a core foundation not only for software development but also for national strategic areas such as AI, semiconductors, aerospace and defence. Risks that need to be managed are also growing, including legal disputes stemming from failure to comply with licensing obligations, exposure of security vulnerabilities and copyright issues with data used to train AI models.

ETRI led the launch in August 2022 of the "Open Source Consultative Body for Government-Funded Research Institutes," a cooperation framework among government-funded research institutes. Based on its in-house open source governance system and R&D management experience, it has led efforts including setting guidelines, strengthening practical capabilities and sharing use cases.

From this year, it will expand the consultative body into a system spanning all government-funded research institutes to spread governance success cases across participating institutions and strengthen the foundation for open source cooperation linked to national mid- to long-term science and technology policy.

Lee Seung-hwan (이승환), head of ETRI's Planning Division, said open source cooperation among government-funded research institutes was a key strategy to enhance the competitiveness of the national R&D ecosystem, going beyond simple technology sharing. He said ETRI will foster win-win cooperation and a sustainable research environment through the consultative body and contribute to implementing ESG management.

ETRI also published the "2025 ETRI Open Source Annual Report" last year, which includes major open source achievements and future strategic directions. The report covers ETRI's process of advancing open source governance, application cases in R&D projects and results from operating open platforms.