A week ago I spent some time in Berlin representing the Finnish Centre for Open Source Solutions (COSS). The event was about building a new pan-European network for Open Source companies.

The result of that meeting is the Open Business Organizations of Europe (OBOOE), which is focused on creating a voice for the thousands of Open Source SMEs which are a currently under-represented industry and a vital part of the European economy.

From the press release:

The Open Business Organisation of Europe (OBOOE) will unite regional associations of open source businesses. Henri Bergius, representative of the Finnish Centre for Open Source Solutions (COSS): "The current situation is that most of European OSS companies have more business cooperation with software companies from abroad than within Europe."

OBOOE aims to represent European OSS professionals in a joint voice and tap the full potential of the regional industries. Elmar Geese, representative of the German LIVE Linux Verband: "OBOOE will develop the open source market and industry by matchmaking, sharing of knowledge and business opportunities."

Alexandre Zapolsky representative of French federation of open source professionals (FNILL) says: "It is an historical day! With OBOOE we are going to build the Europe of open Source Software. We are going to pass from the time of speech to the time of action. It is very exciting!"

There is also an article in heise.de: Neues Netzwerk für Open-Source-Firmen in Europa (BabelFish translation).

Expect to hear more about OBOOE after FOSDEM. In the meanwhile, feel free to contact us.

Updated 2008-01-23: Some mentions in Finnish press: SWbusiness.fi, Digitoday, Tietokone and HighTech Forum

Technorati Tags: coss, freesoftware, europe