ES: CIO Extremadura 'open source key to development'

"We have a long list of recommendations that we are willing to share with all administrations that are considering open source", Espada said last week Thursday at a seminar in Brussels.

The region for instance advises to take fiscal measures to promote the creation of open source business. "Make its adoption a priority for public administrations. Use open source when you are organising electronic polls, stress its use in your development strategy and build demo centres to increase the trust in this type of software."

Espada said Extremadura's government will continue to push open source software as a tool to develop the region.

This year it has started centres for software excellence, where open source applications can be tested and certified. "Our GNU/Linex Excellence Centre is to be come a point of reference for those companies that want to migrate their development to that platform."

The regional ministry of Economy, Commerce and Innovation this year renewed its support for Vivernet, a centre that over the last eight years supported small and medium sizes enterprises in their use of free and open source software. "It is an advisory body, that works with entrepreneurs who want to start-up innovative IT projects." The centre will be re-named to 'Centre for ITC Entrepreneurship'.

The regional government this year also started the Extremadura Supercomputing Centre, which should increase collaboration between research centres and business in the region, said Espada.

The CIO of the autonomous region was one of the speakers at a meeting on the use of open source software in public administrations, organised by the Regional Office of Extremadura in Brussels, last Thursday, at the Committee of the Regions.

"It seems that public administration is a sector where open source has great difficulty to gain a foothold, because of vested interests, vendor lock-in and the use of many legacy applications. That is true even in Extremadura, but we are making progress. Open source allows collaboration, and that is a key factor of this new economy."