The Open Source Observatory brings news, studies and best practices on the use of free and open source software solutions in public services.

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Fund a mitigation approach

08/01/2019

EU Member States should agree on how to disclose software bugs and vulnerabilities in computer hardware, and the best ways to mitigate their risks, a study commissioned by the European Union Agency…

EU Member States; Enisa; EU-Fossa 2
news

Inclusion and sharing

08/01/2019

Because it makes it easier to work together, and because it encourages the sharing, reuse, and improvement of ICT solutions, free and open source is a strategic choice for Enabel, the Belgian…

ICT; Enabel; strategic policy note; Digital for Development; GoFast; Drupal, Alfresco, Bonita, OnlyOffice; Apache Solr;
news

City district live data

28/12/2018

Software developers working for KIOS, a public utilities infrastructure research centre at the University of Cyprus, were one of the winners of the ‘Smarter together Vienna challenge’. The event was…

KIOS; ICT; Fiware;
news

Growing Oskari community

28/12/2018

PaikkaOppi, a portal that introduces Finland’s school students to geographic maps and the use of geospatial information, will switch to using Oskari, the open source, on-line geographic map-building…

PaikkaOppi; Oskari; geospatial information; open source; GIS;
news

No more waiting at the doctor

21/12/2018

The Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration in Hesse, one of Germany’s 16 federal states, is funding ‘Warts Ab’ (‘Wait for it’), a smartphone application that will let users avoid queues at their…

Ministry for Social Affairs and Integration in Hesse; eHealth; telemedicine; Geoportal developer community; geospatial data infrastructures;
news

How to contribute

20/12/2018

For public services that are considering how to contribute to open source, Matthieu Faure, an open source solution architect at Adullact has a practical recommendation: “Open source cannot be told…

Adullact; Open source; ESOP; EU-FOSSA 2; ICT;
news

Touts GDPR-compliance

19/12/2018

Public administrations across Greece are welcome to reuse the identity-management software solution built by the city of Heraklion. In 2017 the city began combining OpenLDAP for directory services and…

Public administrations across Greece; OpenLDAP; WSO2; LDAP; EIDAS; GDPR; smart city strategy;
news

Alongside open data

17/12/2018

“Open source software will be promoted, especially by using it in public administrations.” For the first time, a Luxembourg government has included open source in its coalition agreement. The new…

Open source; coalition agreement; ICT; planned obscolence;
news

Aiding cooperation

16/12/2018

The Swiss canton of Bern has begun sharing software developed by and for the canton as open source. Earlier this year the canton adapted its ICT regulations to allow code sharing, and last week Bern…

The Swiss canton of Bern; ICT; press release; ÖREB;
news

Struggling with lock-in

14/12/2018

In the Slovak Republic, public services turn to open source software only because of highly-motivated innovation champions in their organisation. Outside of these, open source is not commonly…

Slovak Republic; open source; NASES; OGP; open data portal; VLC; 7zip; UltraVNC; Gimp; Inkscape;
news

Les Blue Hats

14/12/2018

The French government is building its own open source developer community, aiming to bring together software developers and IT scientists who want to contribute to government-led open source projects.…

news