Anna Hermansen | 15 March 2024
List of research projects:
- The World of Open Source series
- 2024 OSPO Study
- The 2024 State of Open Standards
- Open Source Developer Relations Study
- Open Source and Health Informatics
- Decentralized Computing, AI, and the Open Source Fediverse
LF Research is excited to announce a suite of new research studies on open source trends and opportunities across various industries, geographies, and technology domains. To aid this effort, we are seeking support from organizations to help fund our activities, generate a statistically significant survey sample, and maximize the impact of this research.
Research provides organizations with valuable data and is a great opportunity to engage with, and hear from, the open source community at large. Influence outcomes, receive brand recognition, and a host of other benefits for your organization by sponsoring research today!
The World of Open Source series
Now in its third year, the World of Open Source series will continue to explore global adoption, participation, and challenges of open source across different geographies. We will once again focus our analysis on the use/consumption of open source software, contribution trends, the value proposition of open source, and its sustainability across three different segmentations: Europe, Japan, and a global view.
The research supports strategy and decision-making among business and government stakeholders, and serves to inform policy as it relates to open source. The target sample for this survey is open source business and public sector leaders, contributors, and developers who have an understanding of the role of open source software in their organization or within a given industry.
Timeline:
- March 2024: Survey development
- April 2024: Survey in field
- June-July 2024: Data analysis
- July 2024: Report drafting
- August 2024: Report production
- September through December 2024: Regional report publications
2024 OSPO Study
Since 2018, the TODO Group and the Linux Foundation have conducted yearly open surveys to assess the state of open source programs and similar initiatives worldwide. We encourage organizations to sponsor the upcoming 7th edition of this effort to further our understanding into the proliferation and influence of open source program offices, and make this year’s research possible.
The 2024 survey aims to generate insights into the adoption and impact of OSPOs across sectors and industries, the role of OSPOs in critical AI infrastructure, OSPOs’ impact on the security and sustainability of open source ecosystems, and how these findings segment across industries and geographies. The results of this survey can help open source professionals who are working in OSPOs or looking to establish an OSPO to better understand the value of these programs for any organization relying on software projects, hardware, open content, AI models, and open data.
OSPO Timeline
- April 2024: Kick-off and survey development
- May 2024: Survey in the field
- May-June 2024: Data analysis and presentation of results
- June-July 2024: Report drafting
- August 2024: Report production
- September 2024: Publication
The 2024 State of Open Standards
The Linux Foundation is running its second State of Open Standards study, examining how and why different organizations are involved in open standards adoption and contribution. In last year’s study, we focused on the definition of “open” and how standards that are more open relate to those that are more closed, and we found that organizations prefer open standards. This year, our aim is to understand why this is the case – what is it about open standards that makes them preferable – and quantify the benefit by teasing out the economic impact of participation in and deployment of open standards.
This survey will focus on the legal and business case for open standards, seeking respondents who identify as legal practitioners, business development partners, and those who are making decisions about whether and how to invest in a specific area or technology. The insights gained from this report will help our LF standards community interpret how, where, and why open standards are being adopted, while taking strategic directions that best represent the needs and trends of the open standards ecosystem.
Timeline:
- March 2024: Survey development
- April 2024: Survey in field
- May-June 2024: Data analysis and presentation of results
- July 2024: Report drafting
- August-September 2024: Report production and publication
Open Source Developer Relations Study
Intel and the Linux Foundation are partnering to answer the research question: What resources and strategies are important to open source developers on their career journeys? By capturing the developer’s perspective on the activities that are useful for near-term and long-term career development, this survey seeks to examine how developers rank events, training, mentorship, research, and other opportunities for career growth, and why these resources are important to them.
The insights from this survey will help organizations best allocate resources for their developers to support greater open source consumption and contribution and enhance their technical talent’s experience with their organization.
Timeline:
- March 2024: Survey development
- March-April 2024: Survey in field
- May 2024: Data analysis and presentation of results
- May-June 2024: Report drafting
- June 2024: Report production and publication
Open Source and Health Informatics
Linux Foundation Research is conducting a research project to explore the state of open source technology adoption in health data infrastructure. Our aim is to understand the extent to which the healthcare sector has embraced open source tools to capture, manage, and interpret health data, and which tools are being used, with a particular focus on the use of AI. The research will also examine how the adoption of open source interacts with regulation, existing infrastructure, and political, individual, and business concerns.
The findings are based on a literature review as well as interviews with experts, including those working on Linux Foundation projects who have had their solutions implemented in the health sector.
Timeline:
- January-April 2024: Interviews and literature review
- February-April 2024: Data analysis
- May 2024: Report drafting
- June 2024: Report production and publication
Decentralized Computing, AI, and the Open Source Fediverse
How can an open source fediverse allow us to reimagine the Internet? In a new qualitative research project commissioned by Futurewei, LF Research is exploring the landscape of open source decentralized computing applications, exploring AI-powered social media, payments networks, software development, edge computing, and more. In partnership with MIT, this research will interview innovators across the technology landscape to capture diverse needs, expectations, and perspectives on digital sovereignty and antitrust, and how open source plays a role in the privacy-preserving, decentralized architecture of our future.
The goal of this research is to provide open source leadership with a strategic direction for the fediverse and identify the key applications in this domain to encourage greater collaboration on and contribution to future projects.
Timeline:
- March-April 2024: Literature review & questionnaire development
- April-May 2024: Interviews & data analysis
- June-July 2024: Report drafting
- July-August 2024: Report production and publication
Become a sponsor today!
For a modest financial commitment, sponsors receive a combination of the following benefits:
- Logo placement on the report cover;
- Branding recognition in survey announcement and social shareables;
- Early access to the research findings;
- Unique survey data collector link;
- Opportunity to suggest a survey data segmentation or interview topic area;
- Opportunity to review the report prior to publication.
To sponsor a study, please contact research@linuxfoundation.org.