ICFOSS

International Centre for Free and Open Source Software (ICFOSS) is an autonomous organization set up by the Government of Kerala, India and having the combined mandate of popularizing Free and Open Source Software for universal use; consolidating the early FOSS work done in Kerala; and networking with different nations, communities and governments to collaboratively promote FOSS.

ICFOSS
ICFOSS logo
Entrance of ICFOSS at Green Field Stadium, Thiruvananthapuram
Pronunciation
  • /'aɪ/ /'si:/ /'fō:ss/
Founded28 August 2009
TypeGovernment Organization
Location
  • Trivandrum, Kerala, India
Origins2001 Conference "Freedom First!"
OwnerGovernment of Kerala
Key people
Sasi P Meethal
Budget
5.5 Crores
Staff
100
Websiteicfoss.in

Origins

Kerala was the first state in India to formally adopt a pro-FOSS IT policy in 2001.[1] This main impetus for this step came from the landmark conference "Freedom First!" convened by a group of activists and supported by the government of Kerala, where the Free Software Foundation of India (FSF-India) was inaugurated by Richard Stallman, the founder of the GNU Project.

Genesis

Kerala followed the 2001 conference with a conference series "Free Software, Free Society (FSFS)", held in 2005 and 2008 (with the third of the series being convened in the second half of 2011. This event also commemorates the tenth anniversary of the 2001 conference). In 2008, the Government of Kerala set up a commission under the leadership of Dr. Rahul De of IIM Bangalore to study how to take forward the momentum that Kerala had built up in FOSS. The activist community proposed to the Commission that an International Centre be set up that has a clear mandate on co-ordinating all FOSS efforts in Kerala, and also continued the multi-nation, multistakeholder networking that commenced from the FSFS conferences.

Activities
  • Handbook on e-Governance, Malayalam Spell Checker
  • T-Slide, mouse for people with motor disability
  • Kerala's first public LoRaWAN Network in Technopark Campus to promote Open Source IoT.
  • Low-cost telepresence robot developed on open source platform

References
  1. Free and open-source software#Adoption by governments
  • Official site of ICFOSS
  • Swatantra conference series by ICFOSS
  • "Kerala Opens ICFOSS"
  • Telepresence Robot by ICFOSS
  • First Public LoRaWAN in Kerala
  • ICFOSS to launch mouse for people with motor disability
  • CM to Release Handbook on e-Governance, Malayalam Spell Checker
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