This panel brings together diverse stakeholders from commercial entities and open initiatives to engage in a candid, interactive conversation about building transparent, respectful, and mutually beneficial partnerships. It will address the critical challenge of sustaining open infrastructure in a difficult funding landscape, where over-reliance on single stakeholders threatens vital systems. There is an urgent need to step outside the boxes of the past and embrace innovative approaches. Progress has been hindered because collaboration requires balancing competing priorities: private stakeholders often hesitate to engage due to concerns about control, profit timelines, or misaligned incentives, while open advocates fear that commercial involvement could undermine transparency and accessibility. This panel will start the crucial conversation to diagnose these systemic barriers and analyse why previous initiatives fell short. It will place a significant focus on the dynamics of private-public partnerships, recognising their potential to drive innovation and secure diverse funding streams for open infrastructure. By reframing the narrative from 'open versus commercial' to 'open and commercial', the panel explores practical opportunities for collaboration that uphold openness principles while leveraging industry partnerships. It aims to showcase difficult conversations, as well as how equitable, transparent partnerships and diversified funding can support infrastructure investment, development, and resilience. The discussion will cover building sustainable models, creating trusted spaces for partnerships, and real-world examples. It brings together diverse stakeholders from open initiatives, commercial entities, foundations, and research institutions. This session aligns with the track's objective by demonstrating how collaboration can build and sustain the digital backbone of open science.