How to make money with open sourceTwo case studies

OSS Watchwww.oss-watch.ac.uktwitter.com/osswatch

Sander van der Waal

About OSS Watch• Open Source advisory service in the UK• Advice on all things open source

– Procurement, engagement, development, legal• Services

– Consultancy, events, presentations, community• Publications

– Briefing notes, surveys, case studies, slides

Apache Wookie (incubating)• Server for uploading and deploying widgets• Implementation of emerging W3C standard• Extracted from larger project context as a

discrete project• A good fit with Apache Software Foundation• Already some interest from outside the project

Networking opportunities• ASF community• Other interested projects• Mobile apps/widgets community• Android community• W3C Social Web XG

New Partnerships

Results• Very substantial value added by community• Income generated for next 3 years: ~£700k

from two FP7 projects• Only actually core funded from Dec 09-Sep10 @

0.2FTE (around £12k)

TexGen• Textile CAD modeller• Developed at Nottingham’s Department of

Mechanical, Materials and Manufacturing• Generate geometric models of textiles and

their composites

Why open source TexGen?• People can download TexGen and use it for free• Better level of both knowledge transfer and

verification• Encourage third-party use / citation• Potential for collaboration• IPR issues are simplified

Why not commercialise?• Limited commercial value• Commercial customers would expect support• Small market - casual use does not occur• All development has to be undertaken in-house• Danger of inhibiting research collaborations

Results• Over 5,000 downloads on SourceForge• Collaborations with previously unknown partners• Renewal of EPSRC's prestigious Platform Grant in

2009• In total approximately £1m research income

Lessons learned High ROI to open source code Excellent marketing

Free publicity of research group’s expertise Opportunity to create new partnerships

There’s no one single way of doing it Best application of open innovation in

software Funders love it

Any Questions? Get in touch!

info@oss-watch.ac.uk

twitter.com/osswatch

www.oss-watch.ac.uk http://incubator.apache.org/wookie http://texgen.sf.net