The Open Source Business Foundation, a European open source network, has awarded €75,000 to the three winners of its annual Open Source Business Awards.

The winners were announced at the Open Source Meets Business conference in Nuremberg where the foundation is headquartered.

The awards were created to recognise companies, institutions and individuals which have been shining examples in creating viable business models around open source development.

First place, earning prize money of €50,000, went to Rapid-I, an open source data mining specialist from Dortmund.

Second prize, carrying €15,000, was taken by Open Bravo, an open source ERP company from Pamplona in Spain.

The third place and €10,000 were presented to Brox IT-Solutions from Hanover, a specialist in data optimisation and the personalised tracking of information.

A special award in the shape of a quad-core PC was presented to Freiburg-based Core Systems.

The decisions were made by a panel of 17 members, and the votes were unanimous. All award winners were commended as outstanding, innovative examples for the European open source sector.