Open Source To Be Big Tech Fund 2 Winner (UK)

Open source projects will likely be the stand-out winners of NHS England’s tech fund 2 awards, EHI News has learned. Projects based on use of open source clinical software are expected to be largely spared the axe that has been wielded on other projects, after an estimated £90 million was slashed from the £240 million Integrated Digital Care Technology Fund according to EHI News sources.

NHS England had already indicated that it would afford preferential treatment to open source projects, allocating up to £20 million of the original fund to open source initiatives. But with the Treasury thought to have now slashed the £240 million fund by more than a third, hard choices are required on where the axe will fall.

When the list of winners and losers is eventually made public, EHI News understands that the majority of open source projects will be funded, with only a handful of the weakest projects missing the cut. This is likely be in stark contrast to non-open source projects which had been expected to receive funds, many of which will now receive reduced awards or no money at all...