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Apr 29, 2025
50 changes: 50 additions & 0 deletions _posts/2025-04-29-pt-foundation-expands.md
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---
layout: blog_detail
title: "PyTorch Foundation Expands to an Umbrella Foundation to Accelerate AI Innovation"
author: Matt White, Executive Director, PyTorch Foundation
---

Today, I am thrilled to announce a significant milestone for the PyTorch Foundation: we are expanding our scope to become an umbrella foundation, allowing us to host additional projects. This expansion positions the PyTorch Foundation to foster a broader ecosystem of high-value, trusted, and innovative AI projects that cater to all stages of the AI lifecycle—from training and inference to industry-specific applications.

## Why Expand?

Since its inception at the Linux Foundation two and a half years ago, the PyTorch Foundation has rapidly grown, now encompassing over 30 member organizations and 120 vibrant ecosystem projects. PyTorch itself has become the framework of choice for AI researchers, practitioners, and industry leaders worldwide. Our flagship PyTorch Conference has seen attendance multiply sixfold over just two years, reflecting the community’s tremendous enthusiasm and engagement.

With new initiatives such as PyTorch Day events, global community meetups, the PyTorch Ambassador Program, Open Source Program Office (OSPO) outreach, the Speaker’s Bureau, and our upcoming training and certification programs, we have significantly deepened our community’s expertise and collaboration capabilities. To sustain and accelerate this momentum, the logical next step was to expand the PyTorch Foundation into an umbrella organization.

## What Does an Umbrella Foundation Mean?

By transitioning into an umbrella foundation, PyTorch will now host a range of diverse, high-quality AI and ML projects beyond PyTorch Core. These include foundation-hosted projects in two categories:


* **Platform Projects**: Domain-agnostic solutions essential across various stages of the AI lifecycle, such as training, inference, model optimization, and deployment as well as agentic systems.
* **Vertical Projects**: Domain-specific projects tailored to particular industries or applications, such as biomedical imaging, protein folding, and geospatial analysis.

Projects under our umbrella gain immediate access to vendor-neutral governance, enhanced visibility, increased funding opportunities, and robust community engagement and support.

## Foundation-Hosted vs. Ecosystem Projects

As we expand, it’s important to clarify the distinction between foundation-hosted and ecosystem projects:

* **Foundation-Hosted Projects** are projects that fall under the umbrella, they are officially governed and administered under the PyTorch Foundation’s neutral and transparent governance model. Project maintainers continue to oversee their project, and they transfer assets to the Linux Foundation for independent stewardship and adopt an open governance model significantly reducing vendor bias and encouraging broader community contributions and adoption. These projects have greater stability and longevity and integrate with the larger PyTorch community.
* **Ecosystem Projects** remain independently managed but receive recognition and increased visibility by aligning themselves closely with the PyTorch Foundation community standards. These projects meet specific quality and maturity criteria but retain full independence in governance and asset management.

## How to Join the PyTorch Ecosystem or Become a Foundation-Hosted Project

We have clearly defined pathways for projects looking to become part of the PyTorch community:

1. **[Ecosystem Project Status](https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/ecosystem)**: Projects must meet defined criteria, such as active development, comprehensive documentation, CI/CD infrastructure, clear governance, and community engagement. Approved ecosystem projects benefit from increased exposure and official recognition on the [PyTorch Landscape](https://landscape.pytorch.org/).
2. **[Candidate Project Status](https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/foundation-hosted)**: Ecosystem projects aspiring to foundation-hosted status can become candidates by securing sponsorship from a PyTorch Foundation [Technical Advisory Council (TAC)](/tac) voting member. Candidates receive guidance on meeting all necessary governance, technical, and strategic criteria.
3. **[Foundation-Hosted Project Status](https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/foundation-hosted)**: Candidate projects demonstrating high maturity, stability, multi-platform support, security best practices, and strategic value to the PyTorch community can be approved by the TAC. These projects gain extensive benefits, including neutral trademark hosting, foundation support, marketing and events resources, governance guidance, and strategic funding opportunities.

## Ensuring Long-Term Success and Innovation

By expanding our scope to become an umbrella foundation, the PyTorch Foundation is uniquely positioned to enhance collaboration, innovation, and sustained growth across the entire AI community. Our mission is clear: create a vendor-neutral, open source environment where the best AI and ML tools can thrive, benefiting users, contributors, and industry stakeholders worldwide.

*“PyTorch is absolutely the foundation of the innovation happening in AI today and with projects like Llama, ChatGPT, and hundreds of thousands of open projects built on PyTorch, it has cemented itself as a critical ingredient to the world of AI. This move to create an umbrella foundation enables PyTorch to significantly expand its ecosystem both horizontally and vertically in this new era of agentic systems. I am very excited about this opportunity to take the PyTorch community to the next level!” - Joe Spisak, Product Director for PyTorch at Meta.*

*"PyTorch sits at the very core of AI today. Meanwhile, the depth of the AI stack has grown dramatically—evolving from enabling accelerated compute to powering fully autonomous systems. Broadening the PyTorch Foundation is a key step in keeping the AI revolution open and accessible to all, across the stack and aligned with the principles PyTorch was built on." - Luca Antiga, CTO at Lightning AI.*

We are incredibly optimistic about the opportunities ahead and excited to welcome new projects into our growing family. The PyTorch Foundation remains deeply committed to driving AI innovation forward, and together, we will continue to build the future of open source artificial intelligence.

Stay tuned for more updates, announcements, and opportunities to participate!
6 changes: 4 additions & 2 deletions announcement.html
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Expand Up @@ -19,11 +19,13 @@ <h1>PyTorch<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Foundation</h1>
<div class="container">
<div class="row content">
<div class="col-md-10 body-side-text">
<h2>Accelerating Open Source AI</h2>
<p class="lead">
Welcome to the PyTorch Foundation—a vibrant, collaborative hub created for and by the deep learning community. Here, developers, researchers, and industry leaders come together to shape and expand the open source PyTorch framework and ecosystem. Through a network of dedicated contributors to the PyTorch project, the PyTorch Foundation fuels discussion, innovation, and hands-on collaboration across the PyTorch landscape.
Welcome to the PyTorch Foundation—a vibrant, community-driven hub for open source AI. Developers, researchers, and industry pioneers collaborate here to advance the PyTorch framework and strengthen the open source AI ecosystem.
<br />
<br />
Community-driven collaboration is at the heart of PyTorch's growth and evolution. From advancing the core framework to building essential tools that power PyTorch at a production scale, your contributions are key to moving this ecosystem forward. As part of the Linux Foundation, the PyTorch community also supports a variety of initiatives: developer training, regional and local events, open source tooling, research, and guides for both newcomers and seasoned contributors—all to make your journey with PyTorch more accessible and rewarding.
From cutting-edge development to production-ready tools and libraries, the PyTorch Foundation thrives through transparent collaboration and collective innovation. As part of the Linux Foundation, we host global events, deliver specialized training, support research, and provide resources to accelerate your AI journey.
Whether you are contributing code, sharing your expertise, or deploying real-world AI solutions, the PyTorch Foundation actively empowers you to shape the future of accessible and impactful open source AI.
</p>
</div>
</div>
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---
layout: default
title: Host Your Project
body-class: announcement
background-class: announcement-background
permalink: /host-your-project
---
{% assign cards = site.board_info %}

<div class="container">
<div class="row hero-content">
<div class="col-md-10">
<h1>Host Your<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Project</h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="container-fluid light-background-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row content">
<div class="col-md-10 body-side-text">
<h2>Host Your Project with the PyTorch Foundation</h2>
<p class="lead">
Have an open source project that advances the PyTorch ecosystem? The PyTorch Foundation offers a neutral, community-driven home for projects that share our commitment to open, accessible deep learning innovation. By hosting your project with us, you’ll gain support from a global network of developers, researchers, and industry leaders—plus access to events, training, and infrastructure that help your project grow and thrive.
<br />
<br />
Ready to take the next step? Submit your project for consideration and become part of the broader PyTorch ecosystem.
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<br />
<a href="https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/foundation-hosted" class="btn btn-lg with-right-arrow" data-cta="join">
Host Your Project
</a>
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65 changes: 65 additions & 0 deletions join-ecosystem.html
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---
layout: default
title: Join the PyTorch Ecosystem
body-class: announcement
background-class: announcement-background
permalink: /join-ecosystem
---
{% assign cards = site.board_info %}

<div class="container">
<div class="row hero-content">
<div class="col-md-10">
<h1>Join the<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;PyTorch Ecosystem</h1>
</div>
</div>
</div>

<div class="container-fluid light-background-section">
<div class="container">
<div class="row content">
<div class="col-md-10 body-side-text">
<p class="lead">
The PyTorch Ecosystem is made up of innovative open source AI projects that extend, integrate with, or build upon PyTorch. If you're developing a project that supports the PyTorch community, you’re welcome to apply for inclusion in the Ecosystem.
<br /><br />
Please review the <a href="https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/tac/blob/main/docs/governance/PyTorch_Ecosystem_Process.md">PyTorch Ecosystem review process</a> to ensure that you meet the minimum expectations before applying.
</p>
<h2 class="mt-5">Application Process</h2>
<p class="lead">
Applying to join the PyTorch Ecosystem is simple:
</p>
<ol>

<li>Open a new application using the<a href="https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/ecosystem/issues/new?assignees=&labels=New&projects=&template=application.yml&title=%3CProject+Name%3E?assignees=&labels=New&projects=&template=application.yml&title=%3CProject+Name%3E"> Ecosystem Application GitHub issue form</a>.</li>

<li>Complete all required sections.</li>

<li>Submit the issue.</li>
</ol>
<p class="lead">
Once submitted, your application enters the review pipeline managed by the PyTorch Ecosystem Working Group.
</p>
<h2 class="mt-5">Review Workflow</h2>
<p class="lead">
All applications are tracked via the PyTorch Ecosystem Project Board.
<br /><br />
Applications are reviewed on a first-come, first-served basis.
<br /><br />
The Working Group reviews approximately 7–10 projects per session, depending on availability.
<br /><br />
Projects are moved to “In Progress” roughly two weeks before a scheduled review session.
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During review, Working Group members assess your application based on technical merit, alignment with the PyTorch mission, and community readiness. Questions and requests for clarification may be posted directly in your GitHub issue.
</p>
<h2 class="mt-5">Ready to apply?</h2>
<p class="lead">

<a href="https://github.com/pytorch-fdn/ecosystem/issues/new?assignees=&labels=New&projects=&template=application.yml&title=%3CProject+Name%3E?assignees=&labels=New&projects=&template=application.yml&title=%3CProject+Name%3E" class="btn btn-lg with-right-arrow" data-cta="join">
Submit your application on GitHub
</a>
</p>

</div>
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