ASOLIF is an acronym for Asociaciones de Software Libre Federadas, which in English would be something like the Open Source Trade Associations Federated, a non profit trade association formed by business associations from different regions of Spain. Each one of these regional trade associations came together in a national entity, that hired Agustín as its first employee.
For a few years since its conception, ASOLIF remained as the main private Open Source organization in Spain, with well over 200 companies federated through those regional associations.
As first employee, Agustín had as main goals, assigned by the Board of Directors:
- Growth: ASOLIF as a national organization.
- Create programs that encourage the collaboration among companies and increase ASOLIF’s network.
- Position the Federation as the main Open Source business representative in Spain.
ASOLIF was born with 5 regional organizations, each with different levels of maturity, including around 60 associated companies. That number raised up to 9 regional associations and a little more than 200 hundred companies by mid 2011. As a Board position of trust, Agustín worked with two different Presidents/Boards from March 2009 to September 2011.
Agustín led several programs and activities. Some of them are still running over 10 years later:
- LibreCon (former Libre Software World Conference) is today a key Open Source commercial event in Spain. Its first edition took place in 2010 as a natural evolution of ASOLIF networking events (called back then Encuentros ASOLIF). Watch the video of the I LibreCon.
- Open4Job: is a national program financed by the Spanish Gov. (Servicio Público de Empleo Estatal-SEPE y el Fondo Social Europeo.) to train people unemployed in Open Source and promote their hiring. During its first year of involvement in this national program (training and hiring support), back in 2010, ASOLIF reached an employment rate above 60%, exceeding all expectation back then, given the deep economic crisis we were going through globally, and specially in Spain, when it comes to unemployment. The training course took place in several Spanish cities at the same time.
Some other programs that Agustín was in charge of, that were also relevant back then, were:
- Acuerdo Atlántico: collaboration agreement among Open Source business organizations from Spain, Portugal, Brazil and Argentina. This was the result of the networking activities developed to favour that Spanish Open Source companies could expand their activities in South and Central America.
- Migralibre: social network (community of experts and practices) among ASOLIF companies to engage with organizations that were in the process of migrating from proprietary to Open Source tools/platforms/technologies.
- ALIAL: Aplicaciones Libres para Administraciones Locales (Open Source Applications for Local Public Administrations). This collaborative project was designed to develop, share and maintain applications that every City/Town Council/Government needs, creating a new service market for small Open Source companies. The first deliverable was a guide (in Spanish), sponsored by CENATIC, explaining good practices to develop public tenders for Open Source projects ( Guía ALIAL de Buenas Prácticas para la Licitación de Desarrollos Libres por parte de las Administración Locales).
- Encuentros ASOLIF: networking events for ASOLIF companies execs and other stakeholders. These events took place twice a year with 40 to 60 participants.
- DemoLibre: commercial events to show Open Source products developed by ASOLIF companies.
- Support the Board in different activities like communications, presentations, Assemblies, lobbying, etc.
- Year to year Action Plan: design, execution and report
- Ecosystem management. Regional associations coordination.
- Program management.
- Key accounts management.
- Business Analysis.
- Support Regional Associations business development actions.
- Events coordination.
- Support the Board in financial topics.
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