[OSGeo-Discuss] Re: scale of FOSS projects

[Dave Patton]

Gilberto Camara wrote:

> (c) Many innovations are produced at academic institutions.
>     Most of those institutions have no incentive nor mission
>     to support open-source development projects. Taking these
>     innovations out of academia and giving them institutional
>     support (private or public) is a way to ensuring these
>     innovations are exposed to the market. Those with real value
>     will survive.

Some academic institutions have programs that help
develop "support" for innovations, such as the
University-Industry Liaison Office at the University
of British Columbia:
http://www.uilo.ubc.ca/about_mission.asp

To help evangelize OS, one of the useful elements
is 'use cases', to show prospective users of OS
software why/how they can make use of the various
OS software relevant to their needs. Perhaps people
can also develop 'use cases' to show academic
institutions the value of assisting innovation
to flourish in an OS environment, without necessarily
focusing on patents and building wealth.

-- 
Dave Patton
CIS Canadian Information Systems
Victoria, B.C.

Degree Confluence Project:
Canadian Coordinator
Technical Coordinator
http://www.confluence.org/

OSGeo FOSS4G2007 conference:
Workshop Committee Chair
Conference Committee member
http://www.foss4g2007.org/

Personal website:
Maps, GPS, etc.
http://members.shaw.ca/davepatton/