tag: Open Source Program Offices

For over two decades, Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) have played an important role in the private sector, serving as centralized hubs for managing open source engagement and strategy. Facilitating the development, contribution, and governance of widely used tools and critical digital infrastructure, the value of OSPOs is well established in corporate contexts.  In higher education, however, OSPOs have only recently begun to gain traction. Universities and their employees rely extensively on open source software for…

Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs) have become a familiar concept in large technology firms and technology-forward companies in a variety of other industries. Across the past couple of decades, companies have used OSPOs as centralized hubs for their open source software-related activities. OSPOs have been useful for establishing frameworks for how companies use and contribute to open source software, as well as making sure their engagement aligns with their broader business objectives.

Open source software is the backbone of the digital economy and is critical to the development and maintenance of transparent, inclusive, and secure digital infrastructures. Universities and their employees rely on it daily for everything from basic communication to advanced research, and in turn make substantial contributions to the open source resources used within and beyond higher education. Over the past several decades, major corporations have created centralized offices, often known as Open Source Program Offices (OSPOs), to coordinate and…