San Jose, California — April 28, 2026 — The Nomad Futurist Foundation is proud to announce the renewal of its impactful partnership with the Open Compute Project Foundation (OCP), who will continue their support as an Inspiration Sponsor for another year.
Through this renewed commitment, OCP’s sponsorship will directly fund student participation in the 2026 OCP Global Summit, taking place October 12–15, 2026, in San Jose, CA. This support will help students who may otherwise never have access to the room where careers begin. These funds will enable students from underrepresented and financially aided backgrounds to attend the industry’s premier open hardware and digital infrastructure event, an opportunity designed to foster exposure, education, and meaningful career pathways.
“This continued collaboration with OCP represents far more than sponsorship. It reflects a shared conviction that access and opportunity can change lives and strengthen the future of our industry,” said Nabeel Mahmood, Co-Founder of the Nomad Futurist Foundation. “Together, we are doing more than opening doors for students, we are helping them step forward with confidence into an industry where they can build, contribute, lead, and shape what comes next.”
OCP’s continued investment builds on a transformative impact achieved in 2025. Last year, the organization’s $25,000 contribution empowered 42 students to attend the OCP Global Summit 2025 at no cost: an experience that would have otherwise been out of reach. Among them, 14 students received fully sponsored travel and lodging, including 3 international students for whom this experience marked both their first exposure to the digital infrastructure industry and their first time traveling to the United States. Notably, 4 students boarded a plane for the very first time, an experience underscoring how access can fundamentally expand what feels possible.
The ripple effects of this partnership are already evident. One student from New Jersey leveraged connections made at the Summit to co-organize a data center community event with fellow students and has recently led a panel at a major industry conference, all while completing his academic studies. Another international student, now based in California, reflected on 2025’s OCP Global Summit, stating:
“The experience and support was life changing for me, and I can’t thank [Nomad Futurist and OCP] enough. I am also glad that I could be a part of such a good community.”
“This is exactly the kind of impact we aim to create,” added Rob Coyle, Senior Director of Member Experience, and the internal champion of this initiative. “By supporting access to the OCP Global Summit, we are helping cultivate the next generation of innovators and leaders who will shape the future of open and sustainable infrastructure.”
OCP’s support continues to unlock life-changing access to knowledge, relationships, and career pathways for emerging talent who might otherwise remain excluded from the industry. Together, the partnership strengthens the future workforce pipeline, broadens global participation in digital infrastructure, and advances the Nomad Futurist Foundation’s mission to create inclusive, accessible pathways into the careers building and sustaining the cloud, AI, and digital economy.
As the digital infrastructure industry continues to evolve, partnerships like this reinforce a simple truth: investing in people is essential to building a more innovative, resilient, and inclusive future. By supporting students and representing individuals from all backgrounds, this work helps open doors, expand opportunity, and ensure the next generation shaping the digital world truly reflects the communities it serves.
About Nomad Futurist
The Nomad Futurist Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to demystifying digital infrastructure and accelerating workforce development in the AI era. Through university partnerships, global ambassador programs, scholarships, and the Nomad Futurist Academy, the Foundation connects industry expertise with the next generation of leaders shaping the digital economy.
To learn more about the Nomad Futurist Foundation, please click here.
About Open Compute Project
The Open Compute Project (OCP) brings at-scale innovations and hyperscaler best practices to all, spanning technology domains from the data center to the edge, and the technology stack from silicon, to systems, to site facilities and services. The international OCP Community is made up of organizations and people from hyperscale, neocloud and cloud data center operators, communications providers, colocation providers, diverse enterprises, and technology providers. With The OCP Tenets of Openness, Impact, Efficiency, Scale and Sustainability, the OCP Foundation engages with industry ecosystems, our growing membership, and educates thousands of engineers and industry leaders, every year. Across many projects and initiatives, the OCP Foundation and its Community are meeting the AI Data Center market evolution today and shaping the future.
Media Contact for Nomad Futurist
Julia Terlizzi
Marketing & Program Director
Email: jt@nomadfuturist.org
Media Contact for Open Compute Project
Dirk Van Slyke
Chief Marketing Officer
Email: dirkv@opencompute.org
