OSPO++ institutionalises Open Source globally. OSPO++ is a global network and a community of collaborative open source program offices (OSPOs) focused on supporting the core mission objectives of those universities, governments, and civic institutions through Open Source and collaboration. We come together to build OSPOs, for internal organization competence and value, while fostering a culture and new pathway for impactful collaborations between OSPOs and communities on today’s most pressing challenges.
The OSPO is a organizational construct, which is the epicenter of Open Source, and epicenter to apply Open Source; engaging a range of activities from legal & technical advice, to organizational cooperative strategy and community engagement, to cross-border Public Administration-to-Public Administration code sharing, an OSPO is a greenfield for an organization; establishing open source capacity for an organization, and ability to innovatively engage between OPSOs. What an organization then does with its OSPO and capabilities, how it is used to further the organization's core missions & objectives and responsibilities, is then organization dependent, regionally and system dependent, and actively evolving from real world experience. Today OSPOs outside industry can be found engaging in Open Science, Technology Translation, Workforce Development, Scaling Digital Solutions, Interoperability, Digital Sovereignty, Open Cities, and find themselves at the heart of the many AI discussions.
OSPO++ began as a community facilitated by Moss Labs, a loose organization of open source enthusiasts, on both sides of the Atlantic, headed by Jacob Green of Baltimore, MD US. Working with and convening the help from leading OSS talent Danese Cooper, Clare Dillon, Richard Llittauer, Sayeed Choudhury, and many volunteers and advisors from industry, government, and academia, together with OSS infrastructure and foundations like Open Forum Europe, Eclipse, OW2, TODO Group, and OSPO.Alliance. The initial facilitators have held biweekly meetings, talks at conferences, produced seminars & podcasts. Outside the pandemic, OSPO++ is known for traveling to meet OSS people face to face and learn.
Early and frequent cooperative sessions with City of Paris and Mosslabs, a few key open source summits graciously co-hosted by CIty of Paris, came together to produce OSPO++’s first successful OSPOs and an OPSO-to-OSPO experiment. Innovatively deploying/connecting OSPOs on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean; at Johns Hopkins University and the City of Paris. Those two nascent OSPOs formed a network collaborating to deploy Paris's Open Source Lutece digital services platform to a West Baltimore local community center 6000 miles away. For a case study, see here.
OSPO++ global exchanges, community discussions, conference talks, pilots, contribute to an ecosystem of efforts by the Open Source industry stakeholders and foundations. OSPOs can now be found outside of industry; in academia and governments serving a variety of value propositions. Many in the industry have galvanized around this construct. Notably being European Commission, UN's WHO, 11 US Universities supported by the Sloan Foundation, and a number of EU nation states. OSPOs are well described on the EC’s OSOR portal and there often talks at European signature OSS events like Paris Open Source Experience, FOSDEM, OFE Poilcy Summit. Networks like the EC OSPO network and OSPO++, OSPO.Alliance, TODO help to recently launched OSPO constructs at the nation level in Czech, Netherlands, Sweden, and Parisian City OSPO. OSPO++ is proud to support and have been a part of the The Brno Declaration of the Czech OSPO formation, calling for cooperation between cities like Brno, Paris & Baltimore and support of Open Science.
