On October 2, 2025, Japan’s Information-technology Promotion Agency (IPA), a government agency operated under the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, hosted a public briefing for its upcoming “OSPO Level-1” corporate workshop, delivered in cooperation with the Linux Foundation’s TODO Group. The session explained how organizations in Japan can get started to establish open source governance bodies in their organization and how IPA will support both internal divisions and Japanese organizations on that journey. This post summarizes key takeaways from the OSPO Workshop briefing.
Image 1: Event cover slide for the session
Full Recording (Japanese)IPA’s efforts to strengthen OSPO adoption in Japan
The IPA OSPO team presented concrete enablement initiatives aimed at helping organizations build internal governance structures. Through the IPA’s Japan Open Source Hub, IPA is publishing and consolidating resources to increase open source literacy and offer repeatable learning experiences.
Image 2: Slide introducing the IPA Open Source Promotion (AKA OSPO) Team
At the center of the Level-1 program is the OSPO Starter Kit, a collection guidelines, templates, and even a workbook that participants adapt to their own environments. This resource enables teams to move from “learning” to “doing.”. IPA also shared details about the OSPO Level-1 Workshop series—a three-part, in-person program running on November 6, December 2, and January 22 with consultation sessions and guidance on how to implement the Starter Kit.
Image 3: Slide introducing the Workbook explaining its three-step structure
TODO Group Remarks
Ana Jiménez (Linux Foundation, TODO Group Project Manager) framed open source as part of today’s critical infrastructure and described why OSPOs need a seat early in the software lifecycle. She connected recent regulatory momentum (such as the EU Cyber Resilience Act, or the U.S. CISA strategy) with the practical need to embed secure development practices via OSPO processes rather than treating them as an afterthought.
Image 5: Slide introducing Ana Jiménez, Senior Project Manager at the Linux Foundation, who spoke during the session.
Ana also emphasized the importance of positioning the OSPO as a governance hub for emerging technologies, including AI policy and AI-generated code management in collaboration with risk, legal, and platform teams. She highlighted the necessity of going beyond OSPO launch toward sustainability, encouraging organizations to use ROI reporting and long-term funding to maintain open source capabilities. A theme that resonated with attendees was the “open source stagnation cycle,” which is characterized by organizations urging developers to contribute more without a clear strategy, policy, or reporting model. This scenario leads to confusion and reduced support, but an OSPO helps break that loop by defining methods, processes, and tools that link contributions to measurable business goals, said Ana Jiménez.
Image 5: Slide sharing organization oss engagement pitfalls
Finally, Ana introduced practical tools within TODO for Japanese teams within organizations looking for training materials and to support their open source strategy, such as the OSPO definition in Japanese, OSS policy templates, and the OSPO Book, which provide actionable guidance to accelerate OSPO maturity.
Presentation Recording (English) Presentation Deck (English)Continuing collaboration between IPA and TODO Group
TODO Group will continue collaborating with IPA by sharing open educational resources, policy templates, and case studies, while connecting Japan-based practitioners with the global OSPO community and local initiatives such as the OpenChain & TODO OSPO Local Japan Meetups Group.
To keep the conversation around OSPO adoption in Japan going, join us at the OSPOCon track during Open Source Summit Japan, taking place December 8–10, 2025, in Tokyo and don’t miss the expert-led panel OSPOjp: Ways To Level up OSPO Stages With Knowledge and Strategies From Local Meetup Japan to hear directly from community leaders driving open source governance forward.
Image 56Panelists speaking at OSSummit OSPOjp Panel