The .cat Foundation transforms into Accent Obert to expand its mission to the Catalan digital world.

BarcelonaThe .cat Foundation presented its transformation into Accent Obert this Monday, a rebranding that reflects the expansion of its founding objectives to become a "next-generation civic infrastructure" serving the Catalan-speaking digital ecosystem.

After twenty years managing the .cat domain, the organization has decided to redefine its mission to adapt to a context in which "the digital world has moved from the margins to the center of everyday life," according to the organization. The change responds to the need for "new tools to remain useful" in a more complex and volatile environment.

"Defending our way of being digital" is the new founding mission of Accent Obert, which aims to "make it possible to live fully in Catalan, also digitally," explained Genís Roca, president of the Foundation. "Catalan shouldn't be protected, it should live. It should be used because it works, because it's useful, because it's convenient. And we have to be able to do this everywhere, and that means, increasingly, in the digital sphere," he added.

The transformation is structured around four main areas of action: promoting talent and digital content in Catalan; providing tools and resources for living in Catalan in the digital sphere; and defending the digital rights of Catalan speakers, as helping to restore the visibility of Catalan on Google, and manage its own digital infrastructures such as the .cat domain.

According to Roca, the name change to Accent Obert symbolizes "converging, collaborating, and emphasizing socially relevant debates" with a "transversal, flexible, and connected" voice. Despite the rebranding, the .cat domain remains the "figurehead" of the project and "an essential asset" for the organization, which manages more than 112,000 .cat domains.

Pan-territorial character

The organization has recently strengthened its pan-territorial nature with the addition of Acción Cultural del País Valenciano and Obra Cultural Balear as permanent members of its board of trustees. Òmnium Cultural, CCMA, Amical Wikimedia, FemCAT, AMIC, ISOC-CAT, Círculo Tecnológico, IEC, and IEC have also joined the board. This expansion of the board reinforces the representation of all Catalan-speaking territories within its organization.

Accent Obert was born with the desire to have an impact on public debates on technology, language, and culture, and positions itself as "an actor with its own voice" that does not want "to replace anyone, but to be useful to everyone."