IPA (IT promotion agency Japan), a government agency, has announced that the OSGeo Japan Chapter will be awarded “Japanese Open Source Software Encouragement Award†on 28th October 2010.
IPA (IT promotion agency Japan) has earlier funded the internationalization of GRASS GIS and Mapserver and it is just that they have been fast it recognizing the good work done by OSGeo and the Japan Local Chapter.
The Japan chapter was established in late 2006 and the local community has been growing steadily and dedicating effort to promoting FOSS4G.
Press release by IPA (in Japanese)
http://www.ipa.go.jp/about/press/20101015_2.html
About the award
IPA grants “Japanese OSS Contributor Award†to a developer who has established and has been managing the development project which has the nfluence, to a superior developer who takes an active role in the global projects and to a contributor to spread the Open Source Software. Also IPA grants “Japanese Open Source Software Encouragement Award†to the individual or the group which has a remarkable activity to develop and/or spread OSS.
Markus, this was made possible by great folks like you, who lead the
development of great software like GRASS and others in the OSGeo stack. It is a recognition to the OSGeo community as a whole.