The government of Catalonia, one of Spain's autonomous regions, is offering grants to students and companies that contribute to Open Source projects.
Catalonia last month launched a grants project, hoping to find students interested in developing, translating and localising software. Students that want to help writing documentation were also invited to apply. The grants are also meant to attract companies interested in working with Open Source.
The project, similar to Google's Summer of Code, was launched on 6 June by the Department of Governance and Public Administration, part of the Secretary of Telecommunication and Information Society.
The deadline for registration passed on 20 June and the department is now busy studying the proposals, explains one of the public administrators, Francesc Rambla i Marigot, responsible for Open Source projects. How many students have registered, is not yet known. "We are assessing all the applications and we are giving some of the students more time to send in missing documentation and file appeals."
The department is offering grants of 2000 euro per student and 500 for a student mentor. In total the department will spend 50,000 euro for the project, which is limited to students and companies from Catalonia.
Rambla says that the students whose proposals are selected, will probably be asked to present on their projects in September, around the beginning of the new academic year.
According to Rambla, the program is meant to increase the use of Open Source by both students and companies. "Students should understand the Open Source development model and this project should increase their awareness." The department trusts that it will help companies to find Open Source professionals.
Further information:
Open Source program (in Catalan)