Open Source Software

Open Source Software (OSS) constitutes a critical building block of our common digital infrastructure. About 90 % of today’s software contains OSS. The amount of code in companies’ codebases made up of OSS has increased from 36 % in 2015 to 75 % in 2020. Industry, and to an increasing part also the public sector, are collaborating horizontally and vertically on common infrastructure, tools, and platforms.

Collaboration on the development of the OSS enables increased efficiency, innovation, and new business models. Avoiding lock-ins to specific vendors and services further enables digital sovereignty, competition, and sustainable data management. Studies have also shown how this can impact the economic growth of the society at large.

Such value creation, however, usually requires an active development of the OSS by its community. Active and sustainable development is also needed to reduce the risk of vulnerabilities being introduced, and for the OSS to stay secure for its users. As critical as knowing what software (or part of it) to release as OSS, considering e.g., risk of giving away competitive advantages, or details related to security and integrity.

Within RISE, we conduct active research and collaboration with both the industry and public sector to help manage these challenges. Areas we are active in include:

• Creating, and facilitating development and collaboration within new OSS communities.
• Introducing and implementing processes and development methodologies for OSS within an organization.
• Managing compliance and considering the choice of license related to OSS.
• Analyzing risk for vulnerabilities within OSS projects, how these can be prevented proactively.
• Decision process regarding what software (or parts thereof) to share as OSS, and if so, when, where, and how.
• Identifying critical OSS projects where influence is needed, and how this can be grown.
• Acquisition of OSS and procurement of related services for the public sector.

Our common goal is to enable a value-creating, secure and sustainable consumption, development, and collaboration on OSS, both for our partners and society at large. Our ambition, thereby, is to contribute to an accelerated and value-creating digital transformation, both of the Swedish industry and public sector.