The Linux Foundation Member Summit 2025

Universities are important sources of talent and innovation for open source projects. Successful open source projects originating from academic researchers – including Ceph and Jupyter – highlight the benefits to be gained from university-based open source projects. However, much of the open source work occurring in academic settings are siloed, and potential innovations that could benefit industry and society at large are lost as funding cycles end and research stalls. This session aims to answer the question of how to create mutually beneficial relationships between academia and open source. It will include introductory discussion by experts to provide insights for improving collaborations between open source, industry and universities, and how organizations like the Linux Foundation can play a part. The discussion will ask participants to consider questions such as: how can universities improve training for the next generation of open source leaders; how can communities better on-board students and researchers looking to contribute to their projects; and how can industry partners and foundations/fiscal sponsors help the development of academic open source ecosystems?