[Board] OSGeo - ESA memorandum of intent

[Angelos Tzotsos]

Hi all,

After waiting a few days for feedback, there is a motion now on Loomio:
https://www.loomio.com/p/QlL45DxV/motion-to-approve-the-memorandum-of-intent-with-the-european-space-agency

Best,
Angelos

On 7/27/23 18:57, Codrina Maria Ilie via Board wrote:
> Hi, all,
>
> I would like to point out that we have a draft for a Memorandum of 
> Intent between OSGeo and the European Space Agency, for your review, 
> published on our wiki https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/MoU_ESA.
>
> ESA has been collaborating with OSGeo for years now, either sponsoring 
> or supporting FOSS4Gs, using and contributing back to OSGeo projects, 
> participating in our events. As you know, ESA has invited and is 
> supporting OSGeo to organize its community sprint at Big Data from 
> Space 2023 conference in Vienna 
> [https://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/OSGeo_Community_Sprint_2023].
>
> This MoI is an important step forward for our collaboration, better 
> framing our ongoing and future activities, as well as raising 
> awareness in both communities, the space related and the OSGeo one - 
> of our common values and principles leading to encouraging 
> interoperability with open and community standards, fostering the use 
> and development of open source geospatial software and doing so in an 
> open and inclusive manner.
>
> The 'Memorandum of Intent' and not 'Memorandum of Understanding' was 
> used due to ESA's definition of these terms. In this particular case, 
> MoI is the better choice because "Memorandum of Intent (MoI) is used 
> for instruments that do not generate legal obligations for, or entail 
> any exchange of funds between, the signatories. Conversely, the title 
> “Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)” and its variations is used by the 
> Agency for legally binding instruments entered into that, due to their 
> legal and financial implications, are also subject to a more stringent 
> approval process (since they need to be approved by our various 
> boards/committees and Council)."
>
>
> Cheers from Bucharest,
> Codrina
>
>
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-- 
Angelos Tzotsos, PhD
President
Open Source Geospatial Foundation
http://users.ntua.gr/tzotsos