Election 2024: Corporate members

My main objective is to help OW2  and its members to keep the link with the European research community and impact the European Open Source strategy. Fraunhofer is involved in several important European initiatives with planned Open Source outcomes relevant for OW2 and its members. This initiatives could bring new members and new opportunities for existing members of OW2. Additionally, I want to help OW2 to get public funding through participation in collaborative research projects. We had already a number of such projects in the past.

Dear OW2 members,

I was involved in OW2 in the past (actually more than 10 years ago but some of you might remember me) for the initial onboarding of Spago4Q, as contributor to the former SpagoBI (now KNOWAGE) solution and as speaker at OW2 conferences. Since the beginning of my career, I’m supporting the open source approach and also now, that I don’t develop software code any more, the open source paradigm is still present in many of my activities.

I’m member of the Board of Directors of the Big Data Value Association since 10 years and I’ve established good relationships with many other relevant European initiatives (e.g. FIWARE, IDSA, EFFRA) and national networks (e.g. CINI).

I would be horned to put my experience at disposal of the OW2 Community and to contribute to its evolution, to stimulate the collaboration among OW2 members and to facilitate the interaction of OW2 in the European organizations landscape.

My motivations for the OW2 board are to contribute to 2 key aspects of
the organization :

• Collaboration between members : as an organization federating
  multiple actors of the Open Source world, both form the corporate and
  academic world, OW2 has the power to create strong connections between
  its members, for sharing technologies or developing integrations. I
  believe that there is an opportunity to reinforce the action of the TC
  to create these new connections and advertising technology choices
  that could be interesting to multiple actors.
• Outreach : make the voice of OW2 stronger in Europe, either by
  managing to increase our membership base to more countries within the
  EU, or by creating alliances with other organization that share the
  same values as us. In the current context where EU states are looking
  to get back control on the software they use, there is an opportunity
  to secure and develop our position as an organization federating Open
  Source projects oriented towards business use cases.
  Over the past 15 years, XWiki SAS has been involved in OW2 initiatives
  by participating in research projects (STAMP, FASTEN most recently) or
  organizing and participating in joint events.

Having served on the OW2 board in various roles for many years -most recently as president- I have championed OW2 as the historic European open source foundation for enterprise-ready projects and initiatives spanning multiple domains and technologies. I have helped it attract new members, build relationships, and explore new fields.

Inclusion in the NGI Zero consortium recognises the importance OW2 holds within Europe's open source ecosystem, and it presents a fantastic opportunity for OW2 to promote itself more widely across Europe and beyond:
- respected for its history and its maturity;
- trusted for its integrity and commitment to the ideals of open source;
- valued for its independence from any given technology stack;
- applauded for its community spirit.

Last year, the OW2 management office initiated a strategic review of community messaging and value proposition. As part of this "levelling up," I firmly believe that OW2 must use 2024 to (a) extend and deepen relations with other European open source organisations, and (b) work harder at inducing organic network value within its community.

I sincerely hope you will vote for me to remain on the OW2 board in 2024 and have the opportunity to be board president again.

The City of Paris has been involved in OW2 for the last decade and would like to ensure this remains, as we benefit from the work done by OW2 and its community, we can also bring our experience and be part of some initiatives, as we did for MRL or GGI. The City of Paris has had a commitment to Open Source since 2002 when it first released open source code for its project Lutece and we strongly share its values. Remaining a member of the board would ensure a balanced membership with the public sector.

We believe the different networks we are involved in are great places to share what we do at OW2 and bring more public administrations to the group.

I would be very happy to continue my work in OW2 board to help this great organization to increase its influence in the open source ecosystem.
Implied in other associations (CNLL, PLOSS RA) and events (OSXP, RPLL) I can relay informations and help to find synergies between them and OW2.
I also have a technical background and very concerned by free softwares and communities, so these are the topics I will monitor a lot as OW2 board member.

As a longtime contributor and proponent to open source, I am running for a seat on the OW2 board to push for open source in a different way compared to what I have done so far: + It sounds naive, but I still believe it’s true: we are changing the world with open source. I want to help more people realize that they can do so too, and that open source is the best way, and nowadays the default way, to reach excellence in the software industry. + I am also interested in spreading the word that “open source” and “business” are compatible and that there are successful success stories out there. + Sharing is a key value of open source. Therefore I would like to encourage interaction within the OW2 community, especially experience sharing from open source companies: how to stay true to the open source philosophy while running a business, how to keep the community engaged, how to write an open source policy, etc. + Finally, I am a strong believer that there is space for OW2 to grow in Europe, and that OW2 can lead the way on creating a stronger community.