SAP teams with IBM, Deutsche Telekom to give open source entrepreneurs a forum for presenting ideas to venture capitalists Hasso Plattner, the billionaire cofounder of business software maker SAP, has teamed with IBM and Deutsche Telekom to host a forum aimed at giving open source software entrepreneurs an opportunity to present their business ideas to venture capitalists and other IT experts.The Open Source Forum will take place for the first time on Nov. 7 in Potsdam, Germany, in the Hasso Plattner Institute for Software Systems Engineering, the forum organizers said Thursday.The day-long forum offers open-source start-ups a platform to present their business ideas to potential investors in the venture capital community and the IT industry, according to the organizers. Additionally, the program will provide a mix of presentations from open source experts, including Steve Hand from the University of Cambridge, England, and Adam Jollans from IBM.In collaboration with the University of Potsdam, Plattner launched the institute in 1998 to support talented software systems engineers.Taking a cue from his venture capital buddies in Palo Alto, California, where he lives part time, Plattner also launched around a year later Hasso Plattner Ventures Management, which provides early-stage investment for software entrepreneurs. Around €40 million ($50 million) comes from Plattner, with the remainder from Germany’s InvestitionsBank des Landes Brandenburg (ILB) and CMEA Ventures in San Francisco. Earlier this year, the venture invested in two German start-ups, Facton in Dresden and Inchron in Erlangen. Facton software can be used to analyze, simulate and optimize manufacturing costs from the initial conception of a product to the start of production. Inchron software can simulate, even before a prototype is manufactured, the real-time behavior of “embedded systems.”Details about the Open Source Forum are available at the Hasso Plattner Web site. Software DevelopmentOpen SourceSmall and Medium Business