Economic impact of FLOSS on innovation and competitiveness of the EU ICT sector

The information economy is a large market. Including the provision of infrastructure and services for the creation, exchange and processing of information and communication services as well as the sales of information itself, this market is now in the range of 10% of GDP in most developed countries, and accounts for more than half of their economic growth. Software is one of the key elements driving ICTs’ role in the economy, and the structure, competitiveness, performance of the ICT industry has potential to be strongly affected by Free/Libre/Open Source Software (FLOSS1). Financed by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry, a study has been carried out by a team led by UNU-MERIT, the Netherlands, to identify the role of FLOSS in the economy, its direct impact on the ICT sector, its indirect impact on ICT-related sectors and to recommend policies based on forecasted scenarios. Amongst the key findings is the positive economic impact that FOSS has for the EU including creation of new business and jobs.

The link address is: http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/ict/policy/doc/2006-11-20-flossimpact.pdf