Bridging the gap between research and open source
We believe collaboration is essential for innovation. Whether it be collaboration across the globe on cutting edge technology, collaboration between businesses and universities to further research, or collaboration between students and professors through our internship program, we are powering collaboration by building an open source community on UW Madison’s campus.
Get Involved
Students
Find internships, resources, and get involved in our community.
Faculty & Researchers
Partner with us on a project, mentor an intern, or nominate research for the Open Awards.
Industry Partners & Donors
Learn about our impact, explore funding opportunities, and see how you can support our mission.
About Us
The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Open Source Program Office (OSPO) builds community around open source, educates researchers on its value, and teaches them to adopt open practices. We connect people with open source opportunities, promote open principles across campus, and drive innovation through transparency and collaboration. From software and hardware to open research, we support a range of disciplines, powering the Wisconsin Idea as we push research beyond the bounds of classrooms.
Our Impact
50+
Students Mentored
30+
Open Source Projects Supported
$5,000
in Awards Granted
Testimonials
Our OSPO intern made significant contributions to our project. His work directly enhanced the Knowledge Map tool, improving its functionality for the broader open source community.
The intern has helped in significantly reducing the memory utilization of the software, quickly getting up to speed with a complex and extensive codebase while getting familiar with new tools to profile the code and identify potential areas of improvement.
Big fan. Hope we can do it again.
Our initiatives
Internship program
Connecting students with mentors to perform open source research.
Faces of open source
Who is pushing the boundaries of open source? What are their stories? Meet the faces of open source here.
OSPO is possible because of the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Thanks to a grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Data Science Institute has positioned the Open Source Program Office (OSPO) to support and grow our vibrant open source ecosystem. OSPO’s mission is to collaborate with key stakeholders and community members to provide open source learning opportunities, promote best practices, facilitate the use of open source software in research, and make open source–fueled connections between practitioners and adopters on campus and beyond.
