On December 4, 2025, the Berkeley Institute of Data Science (BIDS) hosted our monthly Open Source Program Office (OSPO) Monthly Knowledge Exchange, where the team discussed the recent annual Scientific Python Developer Summit in Copenhagen.
Creating a Community
Before the developer summits started in 2023, communication was often confined to specific projects. However, as the open source community began to grow, so did the need for cross-project collaboration. People needed a space to come together and share core issues, communicate recent findings, and foster new ideas. Thus, in 2023, Jarrod Millman and Stéfan van der Walt spearheaded the first Scientific Python Summit in Seattle, Washington.
Making Change
At the Copenhagen Scientific Python Developer Summit, a diverse range of topics were discussed, from utilizing scikit-learn to optimize the dispatch of code to how to do secure releases. Further, developers were able to build upon the work of past summits. Over the course of several summits, contributors worked to modernize the old Python lecture notes. Brigitta Sipőcz, an open source software maintainer and astronomer, explained how this sustained effort moved the notes away from a string-based infrastructure. They replaced the infrastructure with a newer system using MyST Markdown. In turn, offering enhanced structure, maintainability, and compatibility with modern documentation workflows.
Developers at the Scientific Python Developer Summit in Copenhagen.
Building Connection
These summits are “more about talking than just writing code”, as Mridul Seth, Scientific Software Developer based in Copenhagen, remarked. The summits are a place to foster a community that produces work greater than just one team. Further, being in a room full of experts led to a great degree of learning. At summits, oftentimes, maintainers know that the people in the room will have the answer to what they are looking for. Dan Schult highlighted the collaboration by explaining that "Everyone is willing to get interrupted and go talk. And just five minutes on the right time makes a huge difference.” The collaborative environment is not only conducive to producing better work but also to creating a sense of belonging. Seth remarked, “It is just such a fun feeling. I think it is important for younger maintainers, the newcomers too. To give them that feeling of belonging that you know, ‘yes, this is your tribe’ and that you can work together.
Driving Progress
With the sense of support the summit embraced, progress came naturally. By being able to communicate face-to-face with experts in the field, Schult further highlights that the summit “made a year’s worth of work into a day or two.” Being in the same room “accelerated progress,” as having those “most familiar with each codebase side by side made migrations and upgrades much simpler.” The Scientific Python Developer Summit’s impact is two-fold: it accelerates meaningful technical progress and cultivates the relationships that make that progress possible.
To stay in touch with the BIDS community and join the conversation, please follow us on Bluesky & LinkedIn and subscribe to the BIDS newsletter. Additionally, if you would like to learn more about open source projects and open science, please join the Berkeley OSPO mailing list by visiting this page or emailing ospo+subscribe@lists.berkeley.edu.