The Regional Government of Castile-La Mancha, through its Centre of Excellence for Free Software (Centro de Excelencia de Software Libre de Castilla-La Mancha - CELSCAM, in Spanish), holds the presidency of the open-source software (OSS) community MORFEO from 1 July to 30 September 2011.
CELSCAM succeeded King Juan Carlos University, assuming for the first time the presidency of MORFEO, a project-driven community which provides an open framework for collaboration among enterprises (major corporations and SMEs), universities, research centres and public administrations which all "share a common understanding about the strategic role that open source software may play in developing the core business strategy of companies and achieving a faster and more effective transfer of research results into actual products", according to the MORFEO website.
During the three-month period of its presidency, CELSCAM will aim to boost and encourage innovation and ICT as the driving force behind productive change. CELSCAM seeks to foster the development of innovation around free software technology. It has set the following objectives: the consolidation and the visibility of services provided in accommodating and implementing Development and Innovation (D&I) projects; and the incorporation of SMEs and research centres in Castile-La Mancha. Given the current economic recession, it is deemed necessary to launch initiatives to promote change in the production model and a firm commitment to the use of ICT and training for technology-based enterprises in Spain.
The overall purpose of CELSCAM, which belongs to the Albacete Science and Technology Park Foundation, is to promote and disseminate ICT in order to reduce the digital divide among citizens in the region and to increase the competitiveness of the business sector. To achieve such aims, it carries out specialised counselling programmes, training through online platforms and quality programmes to build confidence in applications and enterprises that provide ICT solutions.
A workshop targeting ICT enterprises, research groups and centres, as well as future professionals, is scheduled to take place at CELSCAM during September 2011. This event intends to disseminate the opportunities and services offered by MORFEO, in addition to the community’s hosted projects.
The MORFEO community aims to achieve the following goals:
- Accelerate the development of Service Oriented Architectures-related software standards, which are key for both systems integration and the evolution of the network as an ecosystem of proliferating services.
- Create business opportunities in the field and integrate solutions targeting enterprises and the Administration based on standard platforms and applications developed within the community.
- Improve the productivity and assure the quality of OSS-related developments that can be integrated with the standard software development infrastructure for projects of this type (GForge).
- Act as a catalyst for R&D&I projects in the software field that naturally integrate a range of scientific and technological agents, helping to boost R&D&I activities and the development of a strong industrial fabric in countries where the consortium members operate.
Background information:
A three-month rotation presidency for each MORFEO board member was established at its annual meeting held in March 2011. CELSCAM has been a member of the board since 2008 and it is currently being represented by Javier Cantos, its Technical Director. Other Spanish members include: King Juan Carlos University in Madrid; the Technical University of Madrid; the Institute of Computer Technology of Valencia; the CTIC Foundation (Centre for the Development of Information and Communication Technologies in Asturias); and the Spanish Open Source Software National Observatory (CENATIC).
Further information: