The Optics Valley Square is one of the iconic buildings of the Optics Valley of China. [Photo/Optics Valley of China]

The 10 policies to boost the software and information technology (IT) innovation were released on Aug 17 by the East Lake High-tech Development Zone (also known as Optics Valley of China, or OVC).

The move was against the backdrop that the appearance of ChatGPT developed by OpenAI by the end of last year swept the globe, offering a successful example of the exponential growth of the open-source model.

"Currently, there has been a fundamental change in the development model of software and artificial intelligence. The era of relying on individual enterprises for closed-loop development is long past, while the development model revolving around the open-source ecosystem to converge global resources has become dominant," said Lyu Shigong, deputy director of the valley's bureau of corporate services, during the release conference for the 10 policies.

Open source is a term that originally referred to open-source software. Its code is accessible and open to everyone wishing to use or modify it. The open-source ecosystem includes the construction of related service platforms, procurement, software development, entrepreneurial projects, and activities.

"OVC provides financial support for the entire open-source ecosystem, which is rare nationwide," commented Zhang Liang, general manager of the Central China region at GitLab Information Technology (Hubei) Co, whose businesses are around the globe.

According to the newly released policies, establishing an open-source service platform will be granted a maximum subsidy of 30 million yuan ($4.17 million) for individual projects. Leading enterprises are encouraged to release independent open-source projects, and support global developers are advised to collaborate in open-source project development. The goal is to incubate open-source projects locally, with the potential to create original and influential large-scale models. Such a project can receive a subsidy of up to 10 million yuan.

In addition, OVC offers the highest sponsorship of 1 million yuan for open-source activities (such as lectures and competitions) with a total investment of over 100,000 yuan.

Industry insiders believe that the real open-source ecosystem has yet to take shape, partly due to domestic restrictions in talent, business models and intellectual property rights. In this regard, OVC will support the fostering of open-source talent teams to construct an open-source community that prioritizes accessibility and sharing.