OpenSlides Initiative and Team
A community of over 40 people contributes to the development of OpenSlides. Part of this community is the professional development team at Intevation GmbH. In addition, a team of 15 people ensures professional operation, consulting, and support.
OpenSlides is more than just a software product. It is a vibrant initiative supported by a dedicated community. Our team is continuously working to improve the platform and integrate new features to meet the growing demands of our users. Our vision is to revolutionize digital collaboration in organizations and associations worldwide.
Intevation as a service provider for OpenSlides
Intevation GmbH is an independent IT service provider based in Osnabrück, Germany, that consistently relies on free software. The owner-managed company was founded in 1999. Its focus is on sustainable IT solutions in areas such as email security, social informatics, and geographic information processing.
Intevation works closely with the Free Software Foundation Europe. The range of services includes consulting, support, training, software development, quality assurance, and project support. Intevation also maintains close contacts with numerous free software communities and is a member of the Open Source Business Alliance (OSBA).
The idea behind the open source solution
OpenSlides was developed as an open source solution to provide flexible and accessible software. Originally designed as a pure projection module (see also the old logo with the overhead projector) and later featuring a parliament in the logo, the software has evolved into a modern and comprehensive tool. OpenSlides impresses hundreds of organizations with thousands of users thanks to its extensive features and user-friendliness.
We are proud to contribute to digital transformation, support democratic processes, and enable participation. Our passion is to produce software that benefits people and helps them achieve their goals efficiently and effectively.
History and version history
It all began when the founders of OpenSlides, Emanuel Schütze, Oskar Hahn, and Norman Jäckel, participated in the federal assembly of a youth association. Driven by the idea of optimizing the presentation and projection for the assembly and not having to work with PowerPoint in live mode, they developed the first prototype of OpenSlides. This was used in 2005 at the federal assembly of a youth association.
In the same year, Emanuel Schütze developed an internal prototype of OpenSlides in PHP specifically for the federal assemblies of the Federal Association of Protestant Student Communities (Bundes-ESG). At the end of 2010, Oskar Hahn and Emanuel Schütze began a complete redevelopment in Python/Django and built a free software product called “OpenSlides.” OpenSlides was released in August 2011 under the GNU GPL v2+. Version 1.0 was released on September 12, 2011, and was put into productive use for the first time shortly thereafter at the 2011 ESG General Assembly in Hanover.
The three founders of OpenSlides, Emanuel Schütze, Norman Jäckel, and Oskar Hahn, brought OpenSlides to life and are still actively involved in its development today. OpenSlides is now backed by the Osnabrück-based service provider Intevation, which is responsible for its professional operation and further development.
The first official release as free software was published in September 2011. Since then, OpenSlides has evolved from a simple projection and organization platform into a comprehensive web-based solution. It offers functions for motions, candidate lists for elections, agendas, speaking lists, and, since 2019, an electronic voting module.
Initially, OpenSlides was offered as a mobile version on a USB stick with on-site installation. Today, it is an internet-enabled solution available as a cloud and SaaS service.
Even before the coronavirus pandemic, OpenSlides was being used at large events such as GEW, ver.di, and many others. With the restrictions imposed due to the pandemic, the demand for digital work options increased enormously. Many clubs, associations, and organizations were looking for efficient solutions for digital collaboration.
Due to its intensive use during the pandemic, OpenSlides experienced a major leap in development. Numerous functional improvements and new features were implemented, and a smooth structure for sales, hosting, and support was established.
Some important milestones in the history of OpenSlides are:
- 2005: First prototype developed and deployed
- 2011: First official release as free software
- 2019: Introduction of the electronic voting module
- 2020: Enormous demand and further development during the coronavirus pandemic
- 2022: Introduction of committee management with OpenSlides 4.0
