Moorcrofts Head of Tech and IP and CEO of Orcro Limited, Andrew Katz, has been named a finalist in the prestigious Law and Policy category of the OpenUK Awards 2023.

The OpenUK Awards celebrate outstanding contributions within the Open Technology ecosystem across various sectors, including open source software, open hardware, open data, and the utilisation of open standards and open innovation. The Law and Policy category specifically recognises individuals making significant contributions within the Legal and Policy sector, encouraging and supporting Open Technology initiatives.

Andrew’s nomination stems from his exceptional work in fostering Open Technology within the legal realm. This encompasses diverse contributions, ranging from drafting license agreements to advising on company policy, government policy, open source strategy, and breaking down barriers to adopting tools from open source ecosystems.

Andrew has been described as the  UK’s leading free and open-source lawyer and is described by Chambers and Partners (2023) as ‘one of the world’s leading legal experts on open source and open hardware licensing’.

In 2020, he was nominated as the Open Hardware expert for the winning team for the European Union’s flagship policy impact study on Open Source software and Open Hardware. He also drafted the popular Solderpad Open Hardware licence, and is on the core drafting team of the CERN Open Hardware Licence.

He regularly advises companies worldwide, including global multinationals, on issues relating to open source software and software supply chain compliance. Both Moorcrofts and Orcro are partners of the Linux Foundation’s OpenChain compliance programme, and Andrew is heavily involved in the development of OpenChain’s processes and materials, including the OpenChain specification which in December 2020 launched as an ISO standard: ISO/IEC 5230:2020.

The Open UK Awards, now in its fourth year, brings together individuals and organisations across twelve categories, recognising excellence and innovation in the Open Technology space. The Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony, where the winners will be announced, is scheduled to take place on November 20th at the House of Lords.

For more information about Moorcrofts, visit www.moorcrofts.com.