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Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) could be utilized to achieve the European Union's goal of making it the world's leading knowledge economy by 2010, concludes a new study.

"Given Europe's historically lower ability to create new software businesses compared to the U.S., due to restricted venture capital and risk tolerance, the high share of European FLOSS developers provides a unique opportunity to create new software businesses," says the report, which was commissioned by the European Commission's Information Society Technologies program. FLOSS could also make up for low information and technology investment: A 20 percent to 40 percent increase in the FLOSS share of software investment could bring about a 0.1 percent rise in annual EU GDP growth, which is about a 10 million euro contribution. A survey by United Nations University and Maastricht University joint research and training center UNU-MERIT found that 63 percent of all FLOSS developers live in the EU, while only 20 percent live in the U.S. and Canada, and 42 percent of Sourceforge users are in Europe, while 39 percent are in the U.S., and 7 percent are in Asia. Europe's biggest challenge will be keeping these FLOSS developers in Europe; of those that do not live in their native country, 5 percent had left the U.S., while 26 percent had gone to the U.S. The ability to cultivate Floss-related companies may be the deciding factor in the competitiveness of the EU's information economy.

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