Best Practices and Pitfalls in Open Source Hardware

Easy-to-use and affordable means of production (e.g. 3D printer), access to these technologies (e.g. in makerspaces) and powerful tools for online product design led to the emergence of open source hardware (OSH). Like in open source software, projects and online platforms have been evolving around physical products from various technologies where people jointly develop and freely share designs. We also find businesses that sell products made from these designs and offer complimentary services. This decentralized and collaborative model of value creation offers new opportunities for social, economic and ecological sustainability, but also calls for a different understanding beyond traditional notions. Results from an exploratory study on OSH projects and companies revealed that licensing is a critical issue, communities and partners play a key role in the open source ecosystem and modes of value creation are either centered around design or production in combination with a mix of complimentary services.

[1]  E. Hippel.  Innovation by User Communities: Learning From Open-Source Software , 2001 .

[2]  Joshua M. Pearce.  The case for open source appropriate technology , 2012, Environment, Development and Sustainability.

[3]  A. Edmondson,et al.  METHODOLOGICAL FIT IN MANAGEMENT FIELD RESEARCH. , 2007 .

[4]  Cornelius Herstatt,et al.  How companies capture value from open design , 2011, Int. J. Inf. Decis. Sci..

[5]  Yochai Benkler,et al.  The wealth of networks: how social production transforms markets and freedom , 2006 .

[6]  Cornelius Herstatt,et al.  How Open is Open Source? – Software and Beyond , 2010 .

[7]  Carliss Y. Baldwin,et al.  Modeling a Paradigm Shift: From Producer Innovation to User and Open Collaborative Innovation , 2010, Organ. Sci..

[8]  Cornelius Herstatt,et al.  On the Open Design of Tangible Goods , 2009 .

[9]  Steven Weber,et al.  The Success of Open Source , 2004 .

[10]  Tobias Redlich,et al.  Open production: scientific foundation for co-creative product realization , 2011, Prod. Eng..

[11]  Eric von Hippel,et al.  Democratizing innovation: The evolving phenomenon of user innovation , 2005 .

[12]  Joshua M. Pearce.  Quantifying the Value of Open Source Hardware Development , 2014, Modern Economy.

[13]  Tobias Redlich.  Open Production Gestaltungsmodell für die Wertschöpfung in der Bottom-up-Ökonomie , 2010 .

[14]  Rainer Stark,et al.  Theorie und Praxis in der Open-Source-Produktentwicklung , 2016 .

[15]  Joshua M. Pearce,et al.  Building Research Equipment with Free, Open-Source Hardware , 2012, Science.

[16]  Alicia Gibb,et al.  Building Open Source Hardware: DIY Manufacturing for Hackers and Makers , 2014 .

[17]  Jens P. Wulfsberg,et al.  Value creation in open-source hardware communities: Case study of Open Source Ecology , 2016, 2016 Portland International Conference on Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET).