Top Secret Belongs in the Past

The first praxis phase of the OPENNEXT project, which has now been completed, worked together with six European medium-sized enterprises and startups with experience of open source to examine how this has become established in their companies, as part of their DNA as it were, and to analyze the infrastructure required. For example, OPENNEXT helped a Danish startup which manufactures office furniture under the slogan “No waste, no storage, no nonsense” to extend its on-demand production to create an approach to product design that involves the customer from the outset. The company then makes this process accessible for everyone on a digital platform and also invites other startups, makerspaces, and members of the public to get actively involved, explains Robert Mies. Then there was the Hamburg-based cargo bike manufacturer which OPENNEXT put in contact with open source actors such as students and a local makerspace. The company had established no previous contact to any of these groups and would have otherwise found it difficult to do so. This networking resulted in a new product idea: a cargo bike with the multifunctionality of a Swiss Army knife. Different superstructures enable different functions, transforming a normal cargo bike into something special. It can assume many forms such as a food bike, a medical bike, a mobile open workshop or even a DJ bike! These functional modules are constructed open source and can be transformed, modified, and further developed for other functions as needed.

There are a number of reasons why SMEs and startups are becoming receptive to open source hardware development in the first place. One of these, according to Robert Mies, is the growing community of people and businesses who believe that a closed approach to product development is risky, expensive, and non-sustainable – particularly as it allows customers little input in the development process. Consequently, companies fail to respond to the needs of their customers. A good example of this is the non-compatibility of different manufacturers' charging cables for laptops and smartphones, which resulted over many years in inconvenience for customers, as well as expense and unnecessary use of resources. The very opposite of sustainable production! The open source hardware movement, by contrast, is driven by ideals such as the free exchange of ideas, mutual help, the fun to be had in tinkering together, and the sustainability resulting from the repairability of products. Companies also see open source as an opportunity to build closer relations with their customers and staff by specifically seeking out and supporting transparent exchange. They see this as a way to achieve stability for their business models. A third reason, according to Robert Mies, is that open source enables other ideas to be introduced into the development process, which would otherwise not be possible in a closed environment, as the need to follow regulations and specifications as well as in some cases the career interests of the engineers themselves can suppress creativity.