New open source consortia

Seven American universities, four information technology companies and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation have formed a consortia to "accelerate innovation and contribute to open source software research"

Open source software and open standards jointly developed by universities, government and industry can create a powerful platform for collaborative innovation. These principles are based on a balanced approach to IP management and should stimulate additional joint industry and university research projects.

I'm a little cynical about such schemes, in my experience such things work best when driven by those at the coal-face rather than the higher levels, but I won't scoff until we see how it pans out.

Press release from Ewing Marion Kauffman