What Open Skills Network (OSN) does

Open Skills Network (OSN) is a nonprofit coalition founded in September 2020 and operated by Western Governors University, with anticipated independent incorporation as a nonprofit corporation. The coalition brings together employers, education providers, policy makers, military organizations, and non-profits to advance skills-based education and hiring practices through open standards and open-source tooling. Its core technology is the Open Skills Management Tool (OSMT), a free, Apache 2.0-licensed database platform that enables stakeholders to create, store, manage, and publish Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs)—machine-readable, searchable skill definitions with metadata including keywords, occupation codes, employer endorsements, and certifications. OSMT integrates with externally-maintained standards (Credential Engine's CTDL-ASN/CTDL and IMS Global's CASE-LD) to enable interoperability across educational, credentialing, and HR systems.

OSN's product portfolio centers on OSMT and RSDs, supplemented by Skills Libraries (centralized compilations of skills data), partner offerings such as Edalex's openRSD platform, and WGU's contributed Skills Library Collections. The 2024 release of OSMT 3.0 introduced OpenAPI integration, expanded RSD metadata support, enhanced search/export, and AWS deployment recipes. The coalition operates through community-driven programs including Open Skills Pilots (14 groups in Spring 2021), Collaborative Projects (6 in Spring 2022), a monthly Community of Practice launched February 2023, and the inaugural OSMT.HACK hackathon (April 2023, $10,000 prize pool).

OSN's business model is grant-funded and non-commercial: membership is free, the software is open source, and revenue mechanics rely entirely on philanthropic and institutional funding—primarily from Walmart.org and WGU. There are no paying customers, no pricing tiers, and no equity investors. Go-to-market is coalition-led, driven by community engagement, events, hackathons, and standards advocacy rather than sales motions. Customer segments span employers, education providers, policy makers, military, and non-profits, with employer and education-provider segments designated as primary.

Name

Open Skills Network (OSN)

Legal name

Open Skills Network (OSN)

Website

https://openskillsnetwork.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Open Skills Network (OSN) is a nonprofit coalition that develops the open-source OSMT platform and Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs) standard to help employers, educators, military, and policy makers adopt skills-based education and hiring practices.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Workforce Skills Management Software / Education Technology

NAICS

Educational Support Services (611710), Educational Support Services (61171), Computer Training (61142)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Services-Prepackaged Software (7372)

akta.pro primary industry

Skills Assessment & Talent/Employability Testing Platforms (EDAFADAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Interactive Practice & Skill-Building (Drills, Games, Mastery Practice) (EDAFACAC)

Keywords

• Open-source skills platform
• Workforce skills interoperability
• Skills-based hiring tools
• Education technology standards
• Nonprofit coalition software

Headquarters

HQ city

Salt Lake City

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Grant Funding: OSN is funded by grants and initial funding from organizations such as Walmart Foundation and Western Governors University. The organization is structured as a nonprofit coalition.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

OSN develops and distributes the Open Skills Management Tool (OSMT), a free open-source database platform under Apache 2.0 license for creating, storing, and publishing Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs) — machine-readable, standardized skill definitions built on CTDL-ASN and CASE-LD web standards. The coalition also provides Skills Libraries, RSD Standards Documentation, and ecosystem programs (Open Skills Pilots, Collaborative Projects, Community of Practice, OSMT.HACK hackathons) to enable interoperability across education and employment systems.

Product overview

Open Skills Network (OSN) operates a platform-plus-modules architecture centered on the Open Skills Management Tool (OSMT), an open-source platform for creating, managing, and publishing Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs). RSDs serve as the core data standard—machine-readable skill definitions that enable interoperability across education and employment systems. Supporting modules include Skills Libraries (centralized compilations of skills data organized by occupation or industry), WGU Skills Library Collections (institutional skills releases for community feedback), and openRSD (Edalex's platform for creating and sharing RSD collections). The ecosystem is governed by OSN's RSD Standards Documentation, which defines technical specifications using CTDL-ASN/CTDL and CASE-LD standards. The portfolio enables skills-based education and hiring by allowing organizations to define, publish, and share standardized skill definitions that transfer across curricula, credentials, and job descriptions.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Open Skills Management Tool (OSMT) OSMT is a free, open-source database technology under Apache 2.0 license that facilitates the creation, storage, and publication of Rich Skill Descriptors (RSD) for sharing and reuse. It enables employers, educators, military, and other stakeholders to create, batch import, manage, publish, search, filter, organize, and share open skills libraries and advances skills-based education and hiring.
• Rich Skill Descriptors (RSDs) RSDs are machine-readable, searchable data that include context behind a skill, providing a common definition that makes skills understandable and transferable across the learning-earning landscape. RSDs can be earned, included in learner-earner records, shared between occupations and industries, and used in credentials, job profiles, and learner records.
• Skills Libraries Skills Libraries are centralized and structured compilations of skills data, qualifications, and attributes that create unified understanding of skills for organizations in employment, curriculum development, job architecture, or competency grouping. OSMT serves as the branded hosting platform for these skills definitions.
• RSD Standards Documentation Technical documentation describing the RSD class and how RSDs should be published for compatibility with services that process machine-readable representations of skills and competencies, providing guidance on using CTDL-ASN/CTDL and CASE-LD standards.

Quantifiable outcome

• 14 pilot groups tested open skills ecosystem in 2021
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers11 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

Yes

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

AI capability3 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

14 partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Western Governors University (WGU)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerWGU is a founding member and currently operates the OSN. WGU's Achievement Wallet strategy and ecosystem development are central to OSN's skills-first model. WGU's Skills Architecture team provides engagement and feedback for OSMT development.
• Education Design LabmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerContributed to 21st Century Skills Competency Framework pilot. Partnered with Muzzy Lane on SkillBuild microcredential platform using RSDs. Presented at Community of Practice sessions.
• Credential EnginemajorTechnology or IntegrationCTDL-ASN/CTDL standards provider. OSMT integrates with Credential Registry for publishing skills. Deb Everhart from Credential Engine co-leads Governance Workgroup.
• 1EdTech (IMS Global)majorTechnology or IntegrationCASE-LD standards provider for RSD publishing. OSN supports TrustEd Apps Pledge and advocates for standards-based integrations.
• Concentric SkymajorTechnology or IntegrationCo-development of OSMT. Nate Otto from Concentric Sky leads OSN Technical Workgroup. Partnered on UW Continuum College federated RSD project.
• EdalexmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerDeveloper of openRSD library platform and Credentialate. Conducting Australian RSD Library Development pilot. Integration with Muzzy Lane SkillBuild platform.
• Learning Economy FoundationmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerFacilitates and contributes to OSN work including Skills Pilots, Collaborative Projects, and Community of Practice. Provides project support for collaborative initiatives.
• iQ4majorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnered with WGU on Automated Parsing Rich Skill Descriptors to Curriculum project using machine learning and AI to align course outcomes to skills.
• PluralsightmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerSkills Content Intelligence team mapping RSDs to Pluralsight library to learn about organizing and classifying skills for OSN community.
• BrightHiveminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerMatt Gee from BrightHive co-leads OSN Governance Workgroup.
• University of Washington Continuum CollegeminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPilot of Federated RSD Implementation for Microcredential Issuing, linking RSDs to Badgr-issued microcredentials.
• University of AucklandminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerRSD Library Development pilot for transdisciplinary researchers aligned to ANZSRC Fields of Research classification.
• Flinders UniversityminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Korus Connect Perpetual Professional Development project for mapping job skills to curriculum objectives.
• Gladeo Inc.minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner in Skills-based Workforce Development Platform for the Creative Economy, tagging skills in career pathways.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Emerging players

• Skills Engine: Skills Engine provides a skills-based competency and job-profiling platform that competes in adjacent territory to RSDs and OSMT, targeting employers and training providers building skills architectures.
• Skybridge Skills: Skybridge Skills, led by OSN Technical Workgroup contributor Nate Otto, won multiple OSMT.HACK categories for integrating OSMT with the Credential Registry. It is an emerging player extending OSN's open skills infrastructure into interoperable skill library tooling.

Direct peers

• Credential Engine: Credential Engine maintains the CTDL-ASN/CTDL credential and skills vocabularies that underpin RSDs, and provides the Credential Registry that OSMT integrates with for publishing skills data. It is a direct standards-and-infrastructure peer.
• Concentric Sky: Concentric Sky co-developed OSMT and provides the Badgr digital credential/microcredential platform, which integrates with OSMT in the University of Washington pilot. It is a direct technical co-developer and integration partner.
• Edalex: Edalex builds openRSD, an open-source platform for creating, storing, and sharing Rich Skill Descriptors and RSD collections. It is the most direct peer to OSN's OSMT, with overlapping skill-library functionality and joint pilot participation.
• Learning Economy Foundation: Learning Economy Foundation facilitates and contributes to OSN work, including Skills Pilots, Collaborative Projects, and Community of Practice, and shares overlapping interests in learner-owned records and portable skills data.

Broad incumbents

• Parchment: Parchment (an Instructure company) is a broad incumbent in digital credentials and learner records, comparable to OSN in the learning-to-employment data space but with commercial scale and reach far beyond OSN's coalition scope.
• Credly: Credly (owned by Pearson) is a large-scale digital credentialing platform that issues and tracks badges and skills-based credentials, overlapping with OSN's mission of portable, machine-readable skill records but at much greater commercial scale.
• 1EdTech (IMS Global): 1EdTech owns the CASE-LD specification that OSN uses for RSD interoperability, making it a broad incumbent standards body. Its TrustEd Apps program and broader learning standards portfolio overlap with OSN's interoperability mission but at much larger scale.
• Lightcast: Lightcast (formerly Burning Glass/Emsi) is a leading labor market and skills data provider, integrated with OSN as a 'Them to Us' data source informing RSD context. It is a broad incumbent in skills taxonomy and analytics.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/OSkillsNetwork
• GitHubgithub.com/wgu-opensource/osmt
• YouTubeyoutube.com/channel/UCrd-nhM2IrQYzxe1PN-V2uA/featured
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/open-skills-network

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Open Skills Network (OSN)