Open Technologies Alliance is a non-profit organization, founded in 2008, 36 Universities and Research Centers are shareholders of GFOSS. The main goal of the organisation is to promote Openness through the use and the development of Open Standards and Open Technologies in Education, Public Administration and Business in Greece.
GFOSS is a platform for Open Standards, Free Software, Open Content, Open Data & Open Hardware in Greece. The major Greek Universities and Research Centers participate in GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance, while leading members of the Greek community of developers play a key role in the implementation of their policies. GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance is affiliated with Creative Commons, is a founding member of COMMUNIA and FAB LAB ATHENS, member of the Open Government Partnership (OGP) Network, Node of the Open Data Institute, member of the Open Budget Initiative and member of the Open Policy Network. GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance also cooperates with the Enterprise Europe Network – Hellas in the ICT sector, with the aim of assisting companies that provide Open Technology services. Nine members of GFOSS participated in the GRNET‘s project, FOSS Centers of Excellence, the centers delivered training activities for developing and promoting FOSS software in ten subject areas.
GFOSS – Open Technologies Alliance experts share extensive multidisciplinary experience in implementing educational programs. GFOSS implemented the Greek One Laptop Per Child pilot which deployed 630 XO-1 laptops to 35 schools across the country. The project included the preparation of laptops, rollout, initial teacher training, production of support software applications, manual and training materials. Part of the project included running a small lab, in collaboration with Arsis at the Shelter for the Temporary Stay of Minors. Also through the Schools Open to Society project GFOSS has significant experience in designing and delivering educational programs that cover both young students and adults. In their collaboration with the Municipality of Athens, GFOSS managed to use their network of volunteers to offer courses in 3d printing, Creating Open Educational Resources, OpenStreetMap, Wikipedia, Coding Schools and Using Ubuntu Linux. Furthermore, GFOSS has experience in education through the Code + Create project. The project aims to teach youth digital skills with the use of open technologies. GFOSS set up open labs (suing open hardware and open software) and created open educational material (available in elearn.ellak.gr) and provided free courses to mixed classes of refugees and Greek youth. Last but not least, GFOSS organizes and/or participates in about 40-50 events/lectures/seminars/camps every year. These include trainings, hackathons, presentations, camps/schools for open content, technical meetings with developers etc.