Open Source Focus For UK's 'Tech Fund 2'

Sam Sachdeva | E Health Insider | May 15, 2014

A focus on open source solutions in the second round of the technology fund has been welcomed by suppliers, who say they expect significant interest from trusts. Applications have opened for the second round of what is now called the Integrated Digital Care Fund, with a ‘prospectus’ released yesterday outlining details for the £240m of funding.

The prospectus includes a sharp focus on open source solutions, and says NHS England wants to encourage the development of open source software and create a community of “developers, implementers and users” to improve the solutions.

“The intention is plain; by taking an open source approach, it will be possible to gain better engagement from clinicians and other frontline users across multiple NHS organisations.” The open source approach will also help to eliminate supplier lock-in and allow trusts to stick with trusted software while using alternate suppliers to support and innovate as needed, the prospectus says...