Malaysia sets up $36m open source fund

The Malaysian government has created a fund worth $36m for start-ups developing open source software.

The OSS-Platform Investment Program (OSS-PIP) is aimed at forming 40 commercially active open source software companies over the next two years, according to news daily The Star.

Malaysian authorities hope that expertise in open source software can help the country become specialty player in the global IT market, which it views as a field dominated by large Western multinationals.

Companies funded under the scheme will be housed in an area in the capital Kuala Lumpur which the government hopes will become its first open source software cluster, said the report.

The money will be managed by the government-run Malaysian Venture Capital Management (Mavcap).

Mavcap senior VP Nagib Abdullah was quoted as saying that funding is "open to anyone who has got the technical skill. We don't want marketers or MBA holders."

John Lui writes for CNET Asia.