Whether you intend on contributing to Eclipse technologies that are important to your product strategy, or simply want to explore a specific innovation area with like-minded organisations, the Eclipse Foundation is the open source home for industry collaboration.
But how do you get started? The first step is to identify your goals and areas of interest. Which Eclipse technologies does your organisation find valuable? What kinds of organisations are you looking to collaborate with?
After answering these questions, you can determine the scope of your intended collaboration. Once you’ve decided which of our two collaboration models is right for you, it’s time to explore your options. The Eclipse Foundation hosts 19 working groups and 3 interest groups focused on runtimes, tools, and frameworks for cloud and edge applications, IoT, AI, automotive, and beyond. Members are encouraged to explore our current showcase and see which existing collaborations align with their goals.
All Eclipse Foundation members are eligible to participate in industry collaborations. To contact us about joining a working group, you can complete the membership form on the website of your working group of interest, or the general Eclipse Foundation membership form. From there, our membership team will guide you through the process.
For interest groups, the process is simpler. Members can simply announce their intention to join on the interest group’s mailing list.
Starting Your Own Collaboration
To begin the process of establishing a working group, you first need to contact our business development team to determine the feasibility of establishing a formal working group. Upon determination, the Eclipse Foundation will work with the lead organisation(s) to define the working group's vision and scope, formalise agreements, and identify potential members. A key outcome of this stage is the draft Working Group Charter, a framework outlining the vision, scope, technical roadmap, and leadership structure of the working group.
All five stages of the working group lifecycle are visualised below:
To learn more about the different stages of creating a new working group, review the Eclipse Foundation Working Group Process.
To create a new interest group, existing members can submit a proposal on our website. If your organisation is not already a member, you must first join the Eclipse Foundation, and then follow the Eclipse Foundation Interest Group Process. There must be at least three member organisations participating, and members must designate at least one interest group lead. Unlike formal working groups, no additional fees are required to participate.
Once your collaboration is underway, you’ll be able to benefit from the vendor-neutral governance and collaboration management provided by the Eclipse Foundation. Visit eclipse.org/collaborations to learn more about starting your collaboration journey.
