NSF Launches Initiative to Support Open Source Ecosystems

The US National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced the creation of a new program to “...harness the power of open-source development for the creation of new technology solutions to problems of national and societal importance.” The new program, dubbed Pathways to Enable Open-Source Ecosystems (POSE) will support the use of open source software across academia, industry, and government.

POSE will not create or maintain software itself but will fund new organizations that manage and support open source development. The stated goals are to:

* to grow the community of researchers who develop and contribute to OSE efforts

* to enable pathways for the development of collaborative OSEs that could lead to new technology products or services that have broad societal impacts.

The focus is on stimulating and catalyzing the creation of new open source ecosystems centered around topics of shared scientific interest. These ecosystems can center around any area of research supported by NSF.