[Local-chapters] Follow up discussion: OSGeo Europe BOF [3]

[Dirk Frigne]

Dear list,

I will shortly present myself as a new member of this list as the OSGeo
contact person for the Belgian Local Chapter that was formed just a
couple of weeks ago [1]. My name is Dirk Frigne and I am a member of
OSGeo since 2007. More information can be found here[2]

Wednesday, July 15 we had a BOF on the foss4ge conference in Como with
the major topic OSGeo Europe. [3]
There seemed to be a huge interest in the topic as there where more then
20 people attending the meeting (of which only 10 subscribed to the wiki).

The main topic discussed was if there is a need for a European legal
entity representing OSGeo for European specific needs.

The first question was if this should fit with the bylaws of the OSGeo
foundation.
Apparently, from a perspective of the OSGeo foundation, the European
Legal structure could be seen as a local chapter, a body of the foundation.

There are at least a couple of good reasons to start such an entity:
- To operate an annual FOSS4Ge Conference, possibly in cooperation with
related efforts such as the organising local Chapter.
- To maintain the relationship with European bodies and European
oriented organisations such as OGC-Europe, JRC, European commission,
European member organisations active in environment, eHealth, open data,
open knowledge, European industry, European startups, (not limited list)
- To act as a body that will partner for H2020 projects, together with
other relevant players such as OGC, Geo4all, SMESpire,  and others
- To act as a reference implementation partner for INSPIRE related
communities, such as ELF, ARENA, Digital Agenda, EUROGeo,
Agile,[not limited]
- To help the specific European SME industry developing business models
for open source.

Last year in Bremen, the topic was also discussed, but after the
conference the initiatives moved to a silent dead. I did a lot of
thinking about the topic, and prepared a presentation [4]
which I gave on the INSPIRE conference, and the derived presentation [5]
adapted for the OSGeo audience.

During the meeting we decided to discuss this topic in the local chapter
list, which is the purpose of this mail.

After the BOF I had te opportunity to talk to a lot of people in a
personal way about this topic, and many encouraged me to go on with the
initiative. I didn't had the chance to talk to everybody, so I am
looking forward to your reactions to further refine our idea's.

I would like to propose following timing for the discussion:
- any reactions on this thread are welcome until end of July.
- As I will be in holidays the first two weeks of August, please give me
these two weeks, where I will often be offline to make a summary of the
discussion so we can propose a European Local Chapter to the board for
acceptance. I will then post the consensus in this list for approval to
hand it over to the board.
- I will also propose to create a OSGeo-Europe list (or we can use the
Foss4G-Europe list for that).

Please consult the members of your local chapters through the diverse
lists, so we have a broad platform to discuss.

Looking forward to your feedback and hope to speak to you personal on a
next foss4g conference.

Regards,
D.


[1] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/User:Dirkf
[2] http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/Belgium
[3]
http://wiki.osgeo.org/wiki/FOSS4G_Europe_2015_BirdsOfAFeather#OSGeo_Europe_BOF
[4]
http://www.slideshare.net/DirkFrigne/2015-inspire-conference-tactical-weapon-for-industrial-growth-final
[5]
http://www.slideshare.net/DirkFrigne/2015-foss4-g-europe-tactical-weapon-for-industrial-growth-slideshare



Thanks in advance for your comments!	
-- 
Yours sincerely,


ir. Dirk Frigne
CEO

Geosparc n.v.
Brugsesteenweg 587
B-9030 Ghent
Tel: +32 9 236 60 18
GSM: +32 495 508 799

http://www.geomajas.org
http://www.geosparc.com