Events

A series of roundtable discussions has taken place. These focused on a range of questions included in the Open Standards: Open Opportunities consultation. 

The discussions were intended to stimulate debate; all responses to the consultation should continue to be submitted online or in writing, via email or post by 4 June.


Completed events

Roundtable 2: Patents and Licensing
27 April, London

Topics discussed:

  • In what way do software copyright licenses and standards patent licences interact to support or prevent interoperability?
  • How could adopting (Fair) Reasonable and Non Discriminatory ((F)RAND) standards deliver a level playing field for open source and proprietary software solution providers?
  • Does a promise of non-assertion of a patent when used in open source software alleviate concerns relating to patents and royalty charging?

 

Roundtable 3: Levelling the Playing Field
19 April, Bristol

Topics discussed:

  • For businesses attempting to break into the government IT market, would this policy make things easier or more difficult – does it help to level the playing field?
  • How would mandating open standards for use in government IT for software interoperability, data and document formats affect your organisation?
  • Does selecting open standards which are compatible with a free or open source software licence exclude certain suppliers or products?
  • Are there any other policy options which would meet the described outcomes more effectively?
  • What would government be inhibited from doing?

 

Roundtable 4: Open standards consultation needs you!
24 April, London

An event focused on SMEs. Topic discussed:

  • What might government be prevented from doing if open standards are adopted and by turn, what will you be prevented from doing?
  • If the government adopts open standards, will it make it easier or harder for you to do business with us?
  • Do you have any examples of times when the lack of adoption of open standards by government has prevented or acted as a barrier to you doing business with us?

 

Roundtable 5: Levelling the Playing Field in the North West
29 May, Manchester

An event focussed on SMEs, which covered:

  • How would mandating open standards in government IT affect your organisation?
  • If the government adopts open standards, will it make it easier or harder for you to do business with us – does it help level the playing field?
  • Do you have any examples of times when the lack of open standards has acted as a barrier to you doing business with us?
  • What might adopting open standards prevent?

 

Roundtable 6: Competition and European Interaction
31 May, London (and via phone)

Topics discussed:

  • Are there any legal or procurement barriers to mandating specific open standards in the UK Government’s IT?
  • Is the proposed UK policy compatible with European policies, directives and regulations (existing or planned) such as the European Interoperability Framework version 2.0 and the reform proposal for European Standardisation?
  • Will the open standards policy be beneficial or detrimental for innovation and competition in the UK and Europe?

Note that this event was a re-run of Roundtable 1. Due to a conflict of interest, output from Roundtable 1 has been discounted and will not form part of the evidence.

 

Roundtable 7: Open Opportunities with Community and Voluntary Services
1 June via telephone conference

This was a teleconference only event, which focused on community and voluntary organisations. Topics discussed:

  • How would mandating open standards for government IT affect you?
  • If the government adopts open standards, will it make it easier or harder for you to work with us?
  • Do you have any examples of times when government IT systems have acted as a barrier to you working with us?
  • What might adopting the proposed open standards policy prevent?