National Open Source Strategy

December 2013

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt December2013

Outline

Background Vision & Mission Preliminary Targets Strategic Objectives Enablers Challenges for FOSS in Egypt Countries Experiences

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 2

Background

 The National Open Source Strategy comes as a response to the Prime Minister’s assignment to study the adoption of an open source strategy in Egypt for the national benefit in 2012.

 The Strategy is a result of a deep conviction that Egypt needs to be open to different types of software especially those encouraging:  Easy uptake  Innovation  Creativity  Egypt developed a well thought strategy and pro-active steps in this direction similarly to other developed and developing countries .

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 3

Background

 The FOSS strategy multi stakeholder committee includes:  Ministry of ICT & Affiliates  Ministry of Administrative Development    Academic Professors from Egyptian Universities Private Sector NGOs  The opinions and views expressed in the strategy resulted from different rounds of discussions of committee members and phases included:  Formation of the multi-stakeholder committee   Formation of the MCIT task force Identification of the professional consultancy team   Consultations with civil society Consultations with private sector Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 4

Vision

“ Building a well developed knowledge society that benefits from a balanced ecosystem of IT producing and IT-using sectors, towards prosperity, freedom, and social equity” Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 5

Mission

“To promote the development and adoption of high-quality, open-source software-based products and services as one fundamental pillar of the knowledge society so as to raise productivity, improve competitiveness, and enhance the overall economic and social wellbeing of citizens in Egypt.” Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 6

Preliminary Targets

 Identifying Egypt's governmental Single Point of Reference for FOSS  Establishing Egypt's web-based FOSS assets library  5-Year doubling the FOSS ecosystem including numbers of SMEs, training providers, international partners, and collaborating NGOs  Implementing at least 3 yearly national projects fostering FOSS usage  Training a minimum of 1000 trainee per year Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 7

Strategic Objectives

Ensure access to knowledge to all citizens Harness the development of the ICT Sector Ensure efficient budgeting and reduce ICT Expenses Increase Technology Independency Build a sustainable FOSS community for users and developers Encourage and support SMEs in ICT exploitation Raise public awareness about Open Source

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 8

Strategic Objectives

 Ensure access to knowledge to all citizens  Availing knowledge management and low cost institutional repositories   Providing zero cost platform using different portable devices such as, mobiles, tablets, or laptops) Facilitating the accessibility for varieties of local / global knowledge sharing & transfer  Harness the development of the ICT Sector  Increasing the competitiveness which will improve the quality     Strengthening the competitiveness of Egyptian ICT companies by combining inexpensive manpower with free software tools Enabling development of different ICT products and services by allowing equal access to FOSS infrastructure Boosting Egyptian software exports via growing expertise in open standards Lowering entry barriers to local developers Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 9

Strategic Objectives

 Ensure efficient budgeting and reduce ICT Expenses

FOSS adoption reduces :

 Total cost of ownership (TCO)   Cost of maintenance and support Cost of future expansion by adopting Open Standards.

 Increase technology independency  Availing source code enables customization of software as desired and moving towards content localization  Moving from vendors lock-in.  Build a sustainable FOSS community for users and developers  Creating vibrant FOSS community covering different society sectors  Stimulating local employment through consolidating support capacity to FOSS-based micro enterprises.

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 10

Strategic Objectives

 Encourage and support SMEs in ICT exploitation  Encouraging SMEs to apply open source ICT solutions in business   Enabling more FOSS-based SMEs generating more jobs Aiding entrepreneurs and small business with limited capital  Raise public awareness about Open Source  Encouraging the dissemination of knowledge   Clarifying the various benefits of using FOSS in society Promoting the open culture concept Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 11

Strategic Outcomes

 Reducing the government expenses on software licenses  Pushing down TCO of government ICT infrastructure, software licenses, and maintenance cost 

GDP growth

 Decreasing illegal usage of software licenses   Enhancing the eco-system to foster business opportunities Generating job opportunities  Increase the national security level  Inspecting systems source code and improving security and quality  Allowing organizations to comprehend software-related security aspects and participate in maintenance of security.

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 12

Strategic Outcomes



Human capital development

 Increasing potential for self learning  Enhancing human capital by developing their professional skills  Empowering SMEs operating in ICT industry  Availing opportunities to export FOSS technologies  Opening markets for FOSS outsourcing services Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 13

Enablers

Ensure high level of leadership coordination (Body) Construct policies that support FOSS usage & development Promote FOSS usage in public sector agencies Expand educational activities to build competitive OS supply capacity Develop a capable infrastructure for the FOSS adoption Secure sufficient and continual funding to support FOSS strategy Empower SME operating in ICT industry Collaborate with civil society

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 14

Enablers

Ensure High Level of Leadership Coordination (Body)

 Adoption of strategy should have a key leadership role for :    Monitoring and implementing the FOSS strategy Acting as a centre point advocate for the high level action plan Orchestrating strategy among stakeholders to smooth implementation.

 Malaysia, India, Japan, and Malta among others, established a FOSS leadership body.

KPI

Identification governmental single point of reference for FOSS Number of FOSS advocacy/awareness event/meeting Number of FOSS strategy implementation reports Number of partnerships with reputable, worldwide FOSS entities Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Targets

declared 3 per year 4 per year 2 for the first year, then 1 yearly 15

Enablers

Construct policies that support FOSS usage and development

 Setting the role of government as regulator to allow for a fair competition between technology providers  Reviewing current regulations and policies affecting the adoption of FOSS  Developing systems with no procedural barriers to facilitate FOSS adoption

KPI

Number of FOSS implementation, migration guidelines and best practices to be circulated in the Egyptian ICT Community.

Targets

One new version every year Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 16

Enablers

Promote FOSS Use in Public Sector Agencies

 Embedding FOSS culture of sharing, reuse, and collaborative development  Motivating governmental entities to adopt, implement, and promote FOSS   Training of government employees on FOSS to ensure the ability to migrate.

Building a Knowledge Asset Library for agencies implementing FOSS to:  Register their initiatives & challenges    Record predefined reuse policies Provide technical and administrative guidance Spread good practices throughout public administrations

KPI

Number of national public procurements targeting development of FOSS-based products and services Size of the Egyptian web-based FOSS assets library Collaborations with NGOs Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Targets

Minimum 3 per year Established and maintained Minimum 2 per year 17

Enablers

Conduct Educational and Training Activities

 Providing Training of Trainers (ToT) workshops and courses for educators  Recommending FOSS tools for teaching, learning, and research   Encouraging the exchange of Open Source experience among schools and universities.

Developing Open Source courses for each different categories of stakeholders.

KPI

Number of institutes & training providers delivering FOSS-related educational/training courses Number of FOSS-related educational & training courses Number of FOSS trainees

Targets

Increase 20% per year Increase 20% per year Minimum of 1000 trainees per year Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 18

Enablers

Develop a Capable Infrastructure for the FOSS Adoption

 The alignment of broadband strategy, cloud strategy & FOSS strategy will increase the opportunities for the widespread use and adoption of FOSS.

 Assessing and identifying Egypt’s infrastructure capabilities for FOSS implementation in government and private sectors (especially SMEs)

KPI

Size of governmental IT infrastructure dedicated to running FOSS Number of running enterprise FOSS application software Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Targets

As needed One of the G-cloud computing infrastructure will be based on FOSS 19

Enablers

Secure Continual Funding to Support FOSS Strategy

 The FOSS enablers and high-level action plan will need a suitable funding that will help in the implementation of the FOSS strategy.

 For the primary phase of implementation , there should be plans for at least the first two years to cover the main activities which includes: training, coordination, raising awareness, monitoring, and evaluation activities.

KPI

Budget size Number of sponsors Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Targets

enough to achieve targets enough to achieve targets 20

Enablers

Empower SME Operating in ICT Industry

 Providing a motivating environment to offer FOSS based services.

 Support FOSS entrepreneurs through the affiliates programs such as TIEC, ITIDA

KPI

Number of SMEs utilizing FOSS Number of national programs that assist the ICT industry on the development of FOSS-based products and services based on market need

Targets

Increase by 20% per year Minimum of 2 per year Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 21

Enablers

Collaborate with Civil Society

 Civil society groups can serve as a source of demand for FOSS. They represent an important market for businesses built around FOSS industry Collaborating with civil society (among others):  Open Egypt (FOSS NGO)  The Arab digital Expression Foundation (ADEF)   Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AETF) The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

KPI

Number of NGOs involved in FOSS Number of NGOs collaborations Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Targets

All software-related NGOs by end of 2 nd year Minimum of 2 per year 22

Challenges For Foss in Egypt



Lack of Supportive Policies



Lack of FOSS Awareness



Lack of FOSS Human Capital



Migration Resistance

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Countries Experiences



Brazil

 Government established the world’s first open source ATM system.  Government converted 60% of state departments computers to use FOSS (over 1 year) 

United Kingdom

 Over 25% of secondary schools use Linux operating system on at least one computer  35% of NHS organizations (300,000 users) are supported on Linux infrastructure 

Malaysia

 Government reduced costs as follows: • Licensing fees by 80% • • • Development and consultancy by 58% Software support services by 7% Overall cost reduction: 30.5% in 2006 Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt 24

Ministry of Communications & Information Technology - Egypt

Thanks

November 2013