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.''''OFA Report: The Cloud Computing Workshop Apr 06, 2012

The workshop brought together high-level experts to discuss three broad aspects of cloud computing; the economic impact, the legal aspects and the way to move forward. The economic opportunity is irrefutable - If you live in a multi-device world, you simply need the cloud. The cloud will have a significant impact on our entire economy; from the micro level and the numerous benefits it brings to supply and demand alike, to the positive macro-effects in new job creation and GDP contribution. There are serious obstacles though in claiming these benefits, from practical operational limitations to misconceptions, distrust and a legal framework that is largely fragmented and complicated. The speakers broadened our understanding of these weak points, downplaying some issues that are overly considered important, while pointing out others that are crucial, yet evade our attention. The workshop illustrated that there are a lot of misconceptions but also a lot of common ground and it is becoming apparent that the way forward passes through better communication and collaboration, whether at the level of EU-US governments, Industry-Policymakers or Providers-Users.

“The cloud will happen; the question is whether it will happen to us, with us, or by us“   Read more: [PDF]

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ICT procurement consultation
As you may be aware, the European Commission (DG Information Society) has launched a study to develop guidelines to help public authorities to procure ICT products that are based on standards. Background to the study can be found here: Background to work .  Many thanks if you have already contributed to the work.


Draft guidelines have now been prepared and Europe Economics, on behalf of the European Commission, is seeking views on how useful these guidelines might be, as well as views on practical implementation measures.

A short survey is available here Survey link.  Your assistance in filling it in is greatly appreciated.  Please see the attached letter of support from the Commission for more detail: Letter of support.

Please note that the survey will close on 14th February 2012. If you require any assistance in answering it please contact Deborah Kelly or Saattvic on +442078314717 or at ict@europe-economics.com. Your responses will remain completely confidential.

UK Cabinet Office Publish LSE Research on TCO of Open Source

The Cabinet Office and London School of Economics (LSE) have published research into the Total Cost of Ownership of Open Source Software. The report has been jointly financed by the Cabinet Office and OpenForum Academy, together with some of its supporters, including  Alfresco, Deloitte, IBM and Red Hat.

Report - Total cost of ownership of open source software: a report for the UK Cabinet Office supported by OpenForum Europe

Read more:-

ODF Format
PDF Format

 
Further commentary:

http://blogs.computerworlduk.com/open-enterprise/2011/12/open-source-total-cost-of-ownership-20/index.htm

WE WELCOME FOUR NEW OFA FELLOWS

 We welcome four new OFA Fellows- Simon Phipps, Karsten Gerloff, Maha Shaikh, and Shane Coughlan. :

Simon Phipps is now CSO at ForgeRock, and is on the Board of the Open Source Initiative, previously he was Chief Open Source Officer at SUN Microsystems – he remains a highly visible commentator and contributor to the open source community.

Karsten Gerloff is President of FSFE, is a thought leader on Free Software and Open Standards, and previously was a senior researcher at MERIT.

Maha Sheikh has recently been appointed Assistant Professor at Warwick, prior to that was at LSE, where she was joint author of the research into the TCO of OSS.

Shane Coughlin, has worked with OFE and at FSFE was the driving influence behind the establishment of the European Legal Network (which has now gone global!), and is the author of a number of research studies.

Secondly I am delighted to announce that Shane Coughlin has now additionally agreed to work with us in developing the OFA Fellows network.

Forthcoming events:

On the 1st December we host a Round Table on Open Innovation, focussing in IPR in Research with The Right Hon Professor Sir Robin Jacob as the lead speaker.

We are also finalising the date mid December for a Round Table on Competing Standards, building on the OFA research being finalised by Tineke Egyedi of Delft.

And finally, for the moment, another round table is under preparation in January on the next in the series on the Open Cloud, this time looking at Certification.

 

From our Bloggers
Articles
OFA Events

  • OFA Invitation - Openness in the Cloud 15th and 23rd of May – Save the Dates

    On behalf of OFA we would like to invite you to two Breakfast Round Tables on “Putting the 'Open' into Open Innovation” for Cloud computing on the 15th and 23rd of May. 

    The debates come as the European Commission is putting the final touches to its long-awaited cloud computing strategy for Europe. The EU recognises that it needs to become not only cloud-friendly, but cloud-active, if it is to take full advantage of the benefits cloud computing offers. This is especially true for Europe's public sector. We believe this is the right moment to debate the merits of a pro-competitive cloud computing environment that is both global and open.

     ROUND TABLE 1:   How Secure is the Cloud?

    When : 15 May 2012, 8.00-10.30, Sofitel Brussels Europe,

    More details     Register here    

     
    ROUND TABLE 2:       Who do you Trust with your Data in the Cloud?

    When : 23 May 2012, 8.00-10.30, Sofitel Brussels Europe,

    More details     Register here

    We hope that you will be able to accept this invitation and we are sure that your participation will provide valuable contribution to our discussion, particularly at this sensitive time.


To Select or Not? - Dealing with Competing Standards in Public IT Procurement

Following the successful OFA round Table discussion held in Brussels on 12th December the full research report had now been published by its author  Tineke M. Egyedi of Delft University of Technology.


The study has been funded with research grants from the Dutch Standardisation Forum, a forum involved in drawing up lists of selected ICT-standards for government organisations, and OpenForum Academy. This report addresses the problem how governments should deal with competing standards, that is, two or more functionally equivalent standards, in the context of public IT-procurement. The focus is on (open) committee standards. The research questions were in the context of public IT procurement, should governments choose between standards that have the same functionality? If so, what factors should be taken into consideration?

Read more:-  PDF Format


Open Innovation Breakfast Debate - 1st December 2011

 

Robin Jacob

OpenForum Academy hosted a stimulating breakfast debate about open innovation on December 1st, the day after the European Commission unveiled its plans for the next round of EU-funded research, dubbed Horizon 2020.  Guest speakers Rt. Hon. Professor Sir Robin Jacob (inset above), Maria da Graça Carvalho MEP and Dr John Temple Lang led the discussion, which focused mainly on one contentious issue contained in the Horizon 2020 proposal: forcing some patents generated from EU-funded research to be exploited in Europe before anywhere else.
The general consensus from the three panelists as well as from many of the 40 or so attendees who joined in the discussion was that attaching strings to intellectual property in this way is a bad idea because it will put off inventors from participating in EU-funded research.

The full report prepared by Dr Roger Burt .  

Images of the event

OPEN DATA CHALLENGE - results

A milestone in the development of public sector information in Europe

June 28th 2011 - OpenForum Europe (OFE) and its sister organization, the OFE Academy are delighted to have been involved in the organizing of the Open Data Challenge, a competition designed to inspire developers to come up with innovative and useful ways of re-using public data.  ...More

Open Data Challenge

BRUSSELS,

June 16th 2011 - Europe's biggest ever open data competition concluded today when European Commission vice President Neelie Kroes handed out prizes totaling 20,000 euros at the Commission's Digital Agenda Assembly in Brussels.  ...More



OFA insights
Current research
Call for papers: Open Standards in government ICT procurement Nov 18, 2010

The OpenForum Academy (OFA) is pleased to launch a first research stream which will focus on Open Standards in government ICT procurement. Procurement is where policy is put into practice and more rigorous analysis is needed to understand the challenges and opportunities involved.

**** NOW CLOSED ****

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