OSOR is a place where the Free and Open Source software community can come together to publish news, find out about events, find relevant open source software solutions and read about the use of Free...
European PoliciesOpen Source SoftwareDigital innovation
Last update: 29/11/2023
Building and designing cooperative digital infrastructure with OS
A new report co-authored by researchers from the Research Institutes of Sweden (RISE), OSPO++ and Johns Hopkins University (JHU) highlights the benefits that open source can bring to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The report is based on the outcomes of the “OSPOs for Good: Building & Designing Cooperative Digital Infrastructure” conference co-organised by OpenForum Europe, RISE, OSPO++, JHU, the UN Office of Secretary-General’s Envoy on Technology and the UN Office of Information and Communications Technology.Both the conference and the report highlighted that…
Aleph Alpha's OS LLM might be the answer to US AI dominance
Aleph Alpha, a Heidelberg-based startup focused on open source large language models (LLM), has raised €486 million in its Series B financing round. Minister for Economic Affairs Robert Habeck called the startup an “incredible success story.” Indeed, this was one of Europe’s largest AI rounds ever – Mistral AI, the French startup which also relies on open source for its model made a splash this June when it raised €105 million in its seed funding round. Aleph Alpha’s funding round was led by Innovation Park Artificial Intelligence (Ipai), Bosch Ventures and companies operating under the…
Business and competitionTools+3 topics
Last update: 20/10/2023
New report discusses OS supply chain challenges, opportunities
Last week, Sonatype presented their annual Report on the State of the Software Supply Chain which looked at the patterns of open source (OS) maintenance, adoption and consumption. Specifically, it investigated the growth of the software supply chain, the use of software bill of materials (SBOM), the rise of OS regulations, as well as the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) by developers. The possibility to do this type of third-party scrutiny on the source code and supply chain is one of the key societal benefits of open source. Any issues discovered could also exist…
Business and competitionDigital-ready policymaking+4 topics
Last update: 02/10/2023
New, free online course in open source licences from the EU
Interoperable Europe Academy released a new, free online course entitled “Introduction to open software licences,” which covers the basics of open source licensing. The class targets IT professionals, policymakers and public servants working in the field of digitalisation and integration of public services who wish to better understand and apply OS licences in their ICT products and solutions. The lesson offers an interactive learning environment and should take less than 10 minutes to complete. Overall, the course covers core topics, focusing on types and characteristics of different OS…
CollaborationEuropean Policies+7 topics
Last update: 25/08/2023
International Open Source Collaboration for Climate
An open source software package from the Digital For Climate (D4C) consortium has recently received accreditation as a digital public good for its contribution to mitigating climate change. The accreditation has been done according to the DPGA standards. The software, known as the National Carbon Registry, enables countries to quantify and verify reductions in greenhouse gas emissions, monitor carbon credits. By facilitating credit transfers, this contributes to fostering a reliable carbon market. This objective aligns with the Paris Agreement, which promotes the utilisation of market…
CollaborationEuropean Policies+7 topics
Last update: 06/04/2023
Supporting quality and maturity of digital commons
NGI Zero Review is a three year support programme offering various targeted services to free and open source projects within the Next Generation Internet initiative. Goal is to improve the quality and inclusiveness of these projects, and make them more sustainable where possible by supporting the most promising ideas to live up to high standards (sometimes called “walk the talk”) in terms of security, privacy, accessibility, open source licensing compliance, standardisation, etc. Target participants: The NGI Zero Review program is open to grantees withing the NGI initiative Available to free…
eGovernmentICT+6 topics
Last update: 06/04/2023
Funding opportunity: Open Calls on moving the Internet forward
NGI Zero Core 1st Open Call Opening date: 1st April 2023 Closing date: 1st August 12:00 CET We want a more resilient, trustworthy and open internet. We want to empower end-users. Given the speed at which the ‘twin transition’ is taking place, we need a greener internet and more sustainable services sooner rather than later. Neither will happen at global scale without protocol evolution, which — as the case of three decades of IPv6 introduction demonstrates — is extremely challenging. NGI0 Core is designed to push beyond the status quo and create a virtuous cycle of innovation through free and…
eGovernmentICT+3 topics
Last update: 29/05/2023
Funding opportunity: Open Calls on Trustworthiness and data sovere
NGI ZERO ENTRUST 5th Open Call Opening date: 1st April Closing date: 1st August 12:00 CET (noon) We need a more resilient, trustworthy and open internet, empowering the end-users. Trust is only justified and sustainable if it the technology in question is up for the job, and is secure-by-design as well as trustworthy. Much of the software, services and devices does not measure up, and it is quite unlikely this will just improve by itself. NGI0 Entrust is designed to move beyond the status quo and create a virtuous cycle of innovation through free and open source software, libre hardware and…
eGovernmentICTDigital innovation
Last update: 28/04/2022
Environmental screening tool in the US
Back in February, the White House published a beta version of an open source environmental justice tool that features an interactive map of communities in the United States and indicators on climate change, clean energy and energy efficiency, clean transit and others. Based on an advanced formula it identifies disadvantaged communities that are marginalised, underserved and overburdened by pollution in order to inform policymakers' decisions related to climate in the Justice40 initiative. This initiative aims to provide 40 percent of benefits of certain Federal investments in seven key…
Energy and environmentEnergy and environment+4 topics
Last update: 17/05/2021
Open Source tools for deforestation and land use monitoring
Open Foris is a set of free and open-source software tools that facilitates flexible and efficient data collection, analysis and reporting on forest inventories. It allows for more robust reporting and decision-making related to land use and deforestation around the world. The initiative was started under the Forestry Department of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in 2018 and has been integrated by dozens of countries in their efforts to make forestry data collection and analysis more efficient and flexible. Data obtained and processed with these tools is crucial for...
Energy and environmentGeospatial
Last update: 05/05/2021
X-Road towards sustainability
In collaboration with Gofore Plc and the Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI), NIIS assessed the environmental footprint of the X-Road ecosystem solution, in order to reduce its CO2 emissions and make it the most sustainable data-exchange solution in the world. The X-Road® initiative represents a global success for the open source community. Revolving around the concept of interoperability, it is an open-source software and ecosystem solution that provides unified and secure data exchange between several organisations around the world. At the beginning of 2021, the Nordic Institute for…
Energy and environmentEnergy and environment+7 topics