[OSGeo-Discuss] Discover the opportunities for GIS in your organisation (using Open Source, Open Standards and Open Data) - Free Workshop for UK government organisations, SMEs and startups @ The University of Nottingham

[Suchith Anand]

Colleagues,

Thanks to the excellent response to our call for the first workshop (on 8th Oct) focussed on Open Source, Open Standards and Open Data opportunities in GIS [1] , we are pleased to inform another workshop will be arranged on 23rd Nov 2015.

So if you work for a government organisation, local authority, SME or Individuals / groups thinking of initiating their own start-ups and  interested in exploring opportunities of using Open geospatial technologies, open standards, open data in your work and operations,  then apply to be considered to take part in the free Workshops on Open Source, Open Standards, Open Data in Geospatial for  government organisations, SMEs  and startups on the 23rd Nov 2015 at the University of Nottingham. Details at http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/grace/events/eventsarticles/open-geo-info-workshop.aspx<http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/genius/documents/gis-workshop.pdf>

The aim is to bring together all interested players to learn, share and discuss ideas in for future collaboration opportunities in Open Source, Open Standards, Open Data in Geospatial including exploring opportunities for participating in joint H2020 and other bids.

The market for Geo services has been estimated to be worth up to $270 billion per year [2]. The high cost of proprietary software can be a limiting factor for many government organisations, SMEs and start-ups. Developments in Open Source, Open Standards and Open Data mean that there are now huge cost savings and big opportunities for organisations using open Geospatial software and technologies.

Open principles are now implemented by the UK Government and delivering huge cost savings for government -£409 million in the first half of the year it was implemented (six months in 2012 alone) [3].  Open source GIS software will  also help  the local authorities and various government departments in reducing huge annual licence fee costs for proprietary software and the UK Government and taxpayers as a whole will  benefit from cost efficiencies,  reduce the cost of lock-in to suppliers and products. This is especially important for future IT investments (for example Cloud Computing) , so that more options are explored and choices available.

As more and more government organisations, regional and local authorities rapidly move to QGIS and other Open source solutions for enhanced efficiency and lower costs , there is also a need for expanding support services and  ecosystem at the local level which is in fact the BIGGEST OPPORTUNITY for SMEs and startups in the UK to fill in [4],[5] and to help create innovation opportunities locally. For example, the startup  community is especially open to the use of open software and data avoiding licensing restrictions which may impact on their business plans, raise early start-up costs and restrict their ability to innovate and it frees them of the need to use proprietary software and data  allowing them greater branding freedom and product flexibility.

We are especially interested in training/capacity building local and regional authorities to make use of open technologies and open principles (esp in GIS) for helping reduce the annual proprietary GIS licence costs as it is one of the biggest IT expenses in GIS . There are 433 principal authorities in the UK: 27 county councils, 55 unitary authorities, 32 London boroughs, 36 Metropolitan boroughs, 201 districts, 32 Scottish unitary authorities, 22 Welsh unitary authorities, and 26 Northern Ireland districts . All of them need GIS for their  operations. So you can imagine the cumulative annual costs for the UK government for keeping buying proprietary GIS  . Now imagine the costs for  not just one year but in the future 5, 10 , 25 years. The savings will be millions of pounds  and with the UK government action plan on Open Principles implemented, we want  to help these local authorities make transition in a phased manner .

This Workshop is free (but limited to only 20 participants ONLY as we have limited venue space) so book your place ASAP (use registration link) at
http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/grace/events/eventsarticles/open-geo-info-workshop.aspx

Selected participants (from a mix of government staff,SMEs and startups) will be confirmed by email before 30 Sep 2015.

Best wishes,

Suchith

[1] http://opensourcegeospatial.icaci.org/2015/08/ree-gis-info-workshop-for-uk-government-organisations-smes-and-startups-the-university-of-nottingham/
[2] http://www.oxera.com/Oxera/media/Oxera/downloads/reports/What-is-the-economic-impact-of-Geo-services_1.pdf
[3] http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/news/government-bodies-must-comply-open-standards-principles
[4] http://www.osgeo.org/search_profile?SET=1&MUL_COUNTRY%5B%5D=00002
[5]  http://www.osgeo.org/uk/training_providers




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