We’re changing the future of product creation.
The future is open and community-based.
Today’s industrial product creation is expensive, risky and unsustainable. But it doesn’t have to be.
Presently, SMEs (small medium enterprises) and maker communities across Europe are coming together to fundamentally change the way we create, produce, and distribute products.
We’re establishing new collaborations between companies and consumers, focusing on eco-friendly mobility, consumer electronics and built-to-order furniture.
OPEN!NEXT seeks to empower both companies and consumers to co-design and co-manufacture products based on new mindsets, new business models, and new collaborative software solutions. For further reading about OPEN!NEXT click here:
Learn more about our pilots, podcasts and research or check out projects similar to OPEN!NEXT:
Project goals ↴
Sharing
We provide access to current information technology to support wider adoption of open source hardware and share open source hardware development practices.
Collaborating
Our network of fab labs helps companies working with open source hardware to co-develop products and services with makers and their customers.
Documenting
We document the journeys of 18 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that engage in communities to develop innovative and user-centric open source hardware.
Who's behind it all?
OPENNEXT is made up of 19 partners from seven European countries. Our areas of expertise span business and data management, design processes, and hacker culture.
Podcast: Show Me the Money
In five episodes, we uncover the potential, challenges and monetary benefits of open source hardware together with leading experts and researchers.
#01
Where’s the Money in Open Source Hardware?
The hosts introduce the Revenue Model Catalog – an open-source collection of strategic approaches and best practice examples from businesses making money by giving away their blueprint for free.
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About the open-source model
The open-source model could potentially transform all manufacturing industries, from medical equipment and mobility to power generation.
Free and open source software gave rise to a billion-euro economy by freeing up digital information. It showed us that proprietary ownership often precludes innovation, and that things move a whole lot faster when you don’t have to wait for patent lawyers and incur high expenses before you can got to market.
We see open-source sharing and co-creation as the natural next step in a digital transformation that is already upending global production and providing access to new, specialized knowledge everywhere. Closed business models and closed innovation environments are of the past – the future of product creation is open and inclusive.
By getting access to design processes, product design files and otherwise “walled-garden” digital fabrication systems, citizens will be able to take an active role in the design and fabrication of the things they consume. Similarly, even with limited resources, SMEs will have the ability to customise products in order to meet individual consumers’ requirements.
Come join us IRL.
From 2019 to 2022 we will host or support several events about Open Source Hardware all over Europe.
