[HN Gopher] We Fund Public Interest Tech ___________________________________________________________________ We Fund Public Interest Tech Author : doener Score : 116 points Date : 2021-12-25 13:46 UTC (9 hours ago) (HTM) web link (prototypefund.de) (TXT) w3m dump (prototypefund.de) | greatgib wrote: | Awesome fund. Sad that it is limited to German residents and not | to all Europeans! | acqbu wrote: | That's true, I've just noticed that. I wish there was an EU- | wide initiative available. | tomtomistaken wrote: | Is that even allowed for public funds? | Xylakant wrote: | Why would that not be allowed? There's no limitation on | nationality, the requirement is for residency. | tomtomistaken wrote: | > If your company, organisation or institution is | established in the EU, you have the right to compete for a | public tender in any EU country.[0] | | [0]https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in- | eu/public-c... | Xylakant wrote: | This is not a tender, so the rules don't apply. | Generally, tenders would only apply to contracts where | the government procures a service or good and only from | certain thresholds on (~ 130 000 EUR for services), see | further down on the page you linked. | https://europa.eu/youreurope/business/selling-in- | eu/public-c... | tomtomistaken wrote: | Right, thanks for clearing it up! | wongarsu wrote: | There are funds by the EU, like Horizon Europe (which funds | research and innovative products). Those are obviously open | to the entire EU. | jacquesm wrote: | There is the EIF, of which many of these local funds are | recipients. Which country are you in? | mellifluousbox wrote: | Correct but I believe EIF rarely invests in startups/projects | directly. I may be wrong but I think they rather invest in VC | funds which then invest the money. | jacquesm wrote: | Precisely, hence my question, I know for most countries | which funds are the recipients of the EIF funds. | auggierose wrote: | > The project teams will receive up to EUR47,500 over six months | | What a nice round number. | hansel_der wrote: | aka 95k a year, which is just short of the magic six-figures i | guess for political reasons. | DarylZero wrote: | Most of these kinds of funds aren't enough to be a salary at | all, intended as social validation tokens for people who | don't even need money. | Xylakant wrote: | This works out to just shy of 8000 EUR per month, enough to | fund two people on an acceptable salary for that time. | Folks with a sufficiently high profile could earn more on | the open market, but you can live of that in most regions | of germany. | csdummi wrote: | guerby wrote: | - French not for profit Framasoft (peertube & others) | https://framasoft.org/fr/ EN version https://framasoft.org/en/ | axlpr wrote: | See also https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29682645, which | discusses another German fund that is apparently organized by | largely the same group of people. | | That submission has been sinking (due to critical comments?). | ignoramous wrote: | See also: | | - The Open Tech Fund (US): https://opentech.fund/ | | - FOSS Host (UK): https://fosshost.org/ | | - The NL Net Foundation (EU): https://nlnet.nl/ | | - The Calyx Institute (US): | https://calyxinstitute.org/projects/microgrants-and-small-pr... | | More: | | https://github.com/nayafia/microgrants | | https://github.com/ralphtheninja/open-funding | DarylZero wrote: | Wish they would fund projects that already exist and that have | years of unpaid effort already delivered. Instead they fund a | bunch of prototypes that will probably go nowhere. | Xylakant wrote: | That's the entire point of the prototype fund - there's another | technology fund that funds basic open source and | infrastructure. | ctrayx wrote: | The issue is not one of linguistic subtleties, but whether | the government should fund boondoggles at all. While | probably, at least judging by the pictures of the funded | projects, engaging in age discrimination. | Xylakant wrote: | > The issue is not one of linguistic subtleties, but | whether the government should fund boondoggles at all. | | Most early tech and prototypes are considered "boondoggles" | at first. Some of them are. Some of them not. Some of them | may seem so to you, but I can tell that I have used at | least a handful of the projects on the list and have | personally supported at least one (without knowing that | they're prototype fund funded, or maybe they were not yet, | doesn't matter). And whether the government should have a | hand in funding public good software projects - who else | should? | | > While probably, at least judging by the pictures of the | funded projects, engaging in age discrimination. | | The age selection could also be just a natural consequence | of how the fund is set up. The funding is capped at less | than 50 000 EUR, which is a sum that's less interesting to | older people since they're more likely to have something | close to that in the bank. Applying isn't free - it costs | effort, so if you can fund without, it's attractive to do | so. Just alleging age discrimination without a shred of | proof isn't really reflecting good on your arguments. | hinkley wrote: | That may be more in the model of prizes, such as the Ansari or | Ashden awards. | | We need more of those too. | mellifluousbox wrote: | That's factually incorrect. Mastodon was funded by Prototype | Fund this year to develop new features. Mastodon was released | in 2016 and has more than 26k GitHub stars, so is quite clearly | way beyond being a prototype. | riffic wrote: | Mastodon's an amazing project, but there are many others that | exist in the space and are interoperable to some degree. | gumby wrote: | Surprise the web site is available in English. | [deleted] ___________________________________________________________________ (page generated 2021-12-25 23:00 UTC)