Literature/202306121143 open hardware is not all about money

• Source: [@wenzel2023Open hardware: From DIY trend to global transformation in access to laboratory equipment]
• Tags: #open-hardware #equipment #democratization

The paper asks the question on whether is it all about money when discussing open hardware projects.

This is a question particularly interesting for me, and that is not always asked nor answered. Many open hardware projects focus on cutting costs, but "openness" can be more, it can be a way for transferring knowledge across boundaries. It can empower local fabrication, increasing the accessibility of tools.

Surprisingly, the paper cites the Flamingo project as an example of why giving tools to biologists as early as possible can be useful to collect feedback.

Local Fabrication is key to ensure accessibility also in times of strain to the supply chain (as the COVID pandemic has shown). A distributed system is more reliable under unexpected circumstances than a centralized approach.