Collaborate with us

Let’s build West Bengal’s open-source future—together.

WBFOSS (West Bengal Free & Open Source Society) invites companies, enterprises, startups, academic institutions, and local tech communities across Kolkata and the state to co-create real impact with Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS).

Why collaborate (especially if you already use FOSS)

If your products, platforms, or revenue rely on Linux, Kubernetes, Postgres, Python, NGINX, Kafka, React, Node, or any open stack, you’re already standing on the shoulders of thousands of volunteers. That comes with a moral responsibility to give back—so the software you depend on stays secure, well-maintained, and inclusive.

Pay it forward in practical ways:

  • Fund or co-fund maintenance sprints and bug bounties
  • Sponsor meetups, venues, and contributor travel
  • Allocate engineer time for upstream issues, docs, and releases
  • Mentor first-time contributors from Bengal
  • Publish case studies that help other local teams adopt FOSS safely

Small commitments compound into big resilience—for your stack and for the entire region.

Who should collaborate

  • Enterprises & SMEs running FOSS in production and seeking reliability, security, and skills maturity
  • Startups building on open tech and looking for community, contributors, and visibility
  • Tech & developer communities (meetups, guilds, SIGs, student clubs) ready to join forces
  • Academia (engineering colleges, universities, labs) creating the next generation of builders

What we can do together

1) Monthly Regular Meetup (Kolkata/WB)

A recurring, predictable space for the community to learn, share, and ship.

  • Format: 1 keynote, 2 lightning talks, 1 live demo, and open Q&A
  • Topics: Cloud-native, security/SBOM, data engineering, AI/ML on FOSS, DevOps/SRE, licensing & governance, localization, civic tech
  • Speakers: Local practitioners, maintainers, student contributors, and partner orgs
  • Host Location: Rotates between partner offices, co-working spaces, and campuses
  • How to participate:
    • Propose a topic/speaker
    • Offer your office as a host location
    • Sponsor snacks, A/V, or recording
    • Submit a lightning talk or a demo

Want to host the next one? Tell us your capacity, date options, and preferred theme.

2) Hackathons & Sprints

Designed around real problems and upstream projects.

  • Tracks: Security hardening and SBOM, Bengali NLP resources, DevTools/CLI, data pipelines, civic tech, observability
  • Partner role: Provide problem statements, mentors, test data (where permissible), judges, and prizes
  • Outcomes: Validated PRs, new contributors, documented playbooks, and reusable templates
  • IP & Licensing: Open by default; upstream first; clear CONTRIBUTING.md and license compliance

3) WBFOSS Volunteers & Members → Contribute to FOSS

We actively channel our volunteers and members to upstream projects.

  • Contribution lanes: Issues/triage, bug-fixes, docs, design/UX, localization, packaging, CI/CD, release notes
  • Support: Onboarding calls, mentored first PRs, contribution guides, and project matching
  • Recognition: Contributor shout-outs, badges, showcase talks at meetups, and case studies

Partners can list their projects and we’ll route contributors based on skills and interest.

4) FOSS Adoption & Governance (for organizations)

  • FOSS Program Office starter kit: policies, contribution rules, approval flows
  • Supply-chain hygiene: SBOM/VEX workflows, CVE triage, release discipline
  • Migration blueprints: open alternatives, TCO, performance and reliability narratives
  • Case-study publishing: how your org adopted and scaled FOSS safely

Policy & licensing: WBFOSS can connect you to experts (legal and governance) for license selection, compliance reviews, contributor agreements, and policy templates.

Academia: Engineering Colleges & Universities

Let’s make Bengal a powerhouse of open-source talent.

  • Student Chapters (WBFOSS@Campus): run meetups, issue bounties, and docs sprints
  • Curriculum support: guest lectures, lab templates (Git, CI/CD, container basics, security hygiene)
  • Capstone & mini-projects: mapped to real upstream issues with faculty-industry mentorship
  • Research collaboration: Bengali NLP corpora, OCR, accessibility, public datasets
  • Faculty development: workshops on licensing, research reproducibility, and open publishing
  • On-campus hackathons: tracks with upstream maintainers and local industry judges
  • Internships & fellowships: placement with OSS-using companies and WBFOSS partner projects

Colleges can host the monthly meetup, sponsor student travel to conferences, and publish showcase outcomes.

Collaboration tracks

  • Adopter Track: mature your governance, security, and contribution culture
  • Builder Track: start/scale an OSS project with maintainers and docs discipline
  • Community Track: co-host programs and grow reach with shared ops and content
  • Academic Track: embed open practices in labs, coursework, and research

How collaboration works

  1. Say hello: who you are, what you use/build, and your goals
  2. Match & scope: we align on track(s), activities, and milestones
  3. Lightweight MoU: roles, code of conduct, communication, reporting
  4. Co-execute: meetups, sprints, releases, and publications
  5. Review & amplify: impact metrics and next-phase plan

Benefits you can expect

  • Stack resilience: better-maintained dependencies and faster security response
  • Talent flywheel: a steady pipeline of contributors and hire-ready students
  • Brand & trust: visible leadership in responsible, open technology
  • Regional momentum: shared infrastructure, shared learning, shared wins

FAQs

We already run a meetup. Can we just cross-host?
Yes. Keep your brand; we share venues, speakers, and audience.

We can’t open-source everything. Is partial OK?
Absolutely. Open selected modules, docs, or workflows. Workshops and mentorship are great too.

Can WBFOSS help with policy and licensing?
WBFOSS can connect you to experts in licensing, compliance, and OSS governance.

Do you support non-coding contributions?
Yes—docs, design, QA, localization, community ops, packaging, and release management.

Ready to collaborate?