Overview

The Oxford Internet Institute was one of four European research institutions involved in FLOSSWorld, a unique project funded as a Special Support Action under the EU’s 6th Framework Research programme. Launched in May 2005, this 2-year project, involving 17 partners in 12 countries around the world, was designed to increase knowledge about the global phenomenon of Free / Libre / Open Source Software (FLOSS) development and application, thereby supporting further collaboration between the EU and developing countries, and contributing to informed public policy.

The focus of the research activities was the design and field implementation of a suite of surveys that targetted for the first time software developers, business firms, government organisations, and institutions of higher education in eight developing countries: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, China, Croatia, India, Malaysia, and South Africa. The Oxford Internet Institute had special responsibility for the design and analysis of a global survey of the nature and extent of the use of FLOSS in higher education institutions, and it collaborated with the other EU partners on the initial statistical analysis of responses to the entire suite of surveys.

Led by the Maastricht Economic Research Institute on Innovation and Technology (MERIT) in the Netherlands and involving researchers from MERIT and the United Nation University Institute for New Technologies (UNU-INTECH), the project brought together major European research institutes and leading public research institutes in the target countries. FLOSSWorld was built upon the past research of its four EU partners – MERIT, the Oxford Internet Institute, the Universidad Rey Juan Carlos Madrid and FUNDECYT/Government of Extremadura, Spain – extending their research experience beyond the EU and embedding it in a high-profile global network.

Support

This project was funded as a Special Support Action under the European Union’s 6th Framework Research programme.