Fraunhofer ISI and OpenForum Europe are conducting a study for the European Commission which shall investigate in detail the economic impact of Open Source Software (OSS) and Open Source Hardware (OSH) on the European economy. The study should identify strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges of open source in relevant ICT policies.
The Open Source impact study is in support of evidence-based policymaking and aims to assess and maximise the benefits of Open for the digital transformation. A call for tenders was launched in June 2019 and the project kick off happened in February 2020. The study is planned to conclude and present its results by the beginning of 2021. It will present policy recommendations that can augment and accelerate the benefits of Open Source for a competitive EU software and hardware industry and a sustainable digital transformation of the EU economy.
Contribute
Input from the Openness community will be crucial for the success of this study. It is a unique opportunity to contribute to shaping future Open Source policies in the EU and beyond. If you are interested in participating in the study, please contact paula@openforumeurope.org. Members of the openness community, experts, government officials, members of the business community or interested parties are welcome to participate.
Stakeholder survey
A stakeholder survey was launched in September. The aim is to gather and analyse the views of a broad set of stakeholders on the topic of the impact of Open Source, hereby creating a robust empirical representation of the opinions and issues at stake.
With this survey, the study coordinators are interested in complementing the literature, database and case study driven approach to assess impact of OSS and OSH with input from the respondents of the stakeholder survey. All together, this body of evidence will be used to derive policy recommendations.
Fill out the questionnaire of the survey.
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