Google contribution $ 350,000 to Open Source Lab

Governor Ted Kulongoski today announced the contribution of $350,000 by search technology leader Google Inc. to a joint open source technology initiative of Oregon State University and Portland State University. With the grant, the universities will collaborate to encourage open source software and hardware development, develop academic curricula and provide computing infrastructure to open source projects worldwide. The universities will also help provide a bridge between Oregon’s universities and Oregon’s growing open technology industry.

“Oregon is home to many of the leading companies, institutions and executives driving the global market for open source software and hardware,” Governor Ted Kulongoski said. “Google’s support will strengthen the leadership role of our universities in fostering the next generation of open source technologies, projects and experts in Oregon and enhance our aggressive efforts to bring jobs and investment to Oregon’s burgeoning open technology cluster.”

Google’s contribution demonstrates its continued commitment to advancing open source software development. This summer, Google funded a $2 million “Summer of Code” program, which gave grants of $4,500 to more than 400 students performing work on open source projects, including several hosted by the Oregon State University Open Source Lab (OSUOSL).

“Google leverages open source software in its development efforts and strongly believes in supporting the open source community,” said Chris DiBona, open source program manager at Google. “Supporting the projects and institutions advancing open source software and hardware helps ensure the continued success and advancement of open source technologies. The teams at Oregon State and Portland State have done great open source work in the past and we’re excited to back their joint efforts.”

The new open source initiative will create a joint-university open source technology center and organization in early 2006 to: design and coordinate curricula across the Oregon University System; offer student internships and expand its technology capacity for the growing number of open source projects and communities it supports; further the commercialization of open source innovations by facilitating linkages to the region’s network of venture capital firms, technology companies and incubators such, as the Beaverton-based Open Technology Business Center; and partner on key educational events, such as the inaugural Government Open Source Conference (GOSCON) recently held in Portland.

Ed Ray, president of Oregon State University (OSU), and Daniel O. Bernstine, president of Portland State University (PSU), expressed their appreciation to Google for its commitment to support innovation and economic growth in Oregon, as well as for this sizable contribution.

“Google’s support to Oregon State University and Portland State University signals their commitment to Oregon’s knowledge economy and we’re pleased to welcome a new partner in our contributions to the state’s growing technology research and development industries,” said OSU President Ed Ray.

“Our universities are committed to strengthening teaching and research to enhance the open source community and we will continue to provide industry with well-prepared graduates,” said PSU President Daniel O. Bernstine.

Leading the university collaboration is Scott Kveton and Bart Massey. Kveton is the Associate Director of the Oregon State University Open Source Lab in Corvallis, which provides custom open source software development and offers facilities hosting some of the world’s largest open source projects, including the Linux® operating system, the Mozilla web browser and the Apache web server. Massey, an Assistant Professor of Computer Science in the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University, is a long-time open source developer and a leader in academic open source research and teaching. Kveton and Massey will coordinate with the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at OSU, also a recipient of funding from Google.