Delta Life 10

24 DELTARES, September 2018 The top fifty suppliers earn 35 billion euros annually from software licenses. In 2011, Deltares made its software open source. Are we completely crazy? And what has that decision led to seven years later? BY JOACHIM ROZEMEIJER / PHOTO DELTARES 'I n 2011, we completely commit- ted to the decision to allow free access to our software,' says Joost Icke, the head of the Deltares Software Center. 'On the one hand, circumstances required it: more and more governments require the use of open source models and programs.' Open source means that the source code of a computer program is freely available so that everyone can use it, modify it and distribute it with- out paying royalties. 'But our main motive,' continues Joost, 'is that open software encourages cooper- ation with knowledge partners. The strategy has seriously accelerated innovations in our software over the past seven years.' Innovating with the community The community for the open Deltares software includes more than 15,000 members from over 200 different countries. They all use computer models to simulate the complex reality of processes in water and the subsur- face. In the user groups, the software models serve as a means of communi- cation and a meeting place for knowledge. Students and PhD students work on new applications or programme new functionalities. Govern- ments integrate the software with the systems they already use. Joost Icke: 'You can see how this works at our annual Deltares Software Days. More than 500 researchers from over 40 countries come to our campus in Delft. Over a period of two weeks, the latest developments are presented in a pressure cooker of workshops, sym- posiums, courses and hackathons. So that's a proud smile that people can see on my face.' DARE TO SHARE! OPEN SOFTWARE AS A MOTOR FOR INNOVATION