There's a free-rider problem if the funding is from a national funding body. Since software is generally useful globally, the funding body would have to be international.
Some sort of international version would be a good idea, if some reasonable plan could be created.
Regarding "free-riders", consider compatibility and interoperability. Some amount of "free riding" may be desired if it means you don't have to spend as much time and effort making things work together. These benefits may not be as important at the application level, but for infrastructure, these can be very important features.
