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 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.
OPENNEXT 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.
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 will help companies working with open source hardware to co-develop products and services with makers and their customers.
Documenting
We will document the journeys of 18 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that participate in communities to develop viable 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.
Dive into the open (source) waters.
We’re always gathering interesting projects, tools and publications on how to work with open source production. Here is your how-to library for current open source hardware projects across Europe and beyond.
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About the open-source model
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.
The open-source model could potentially transform all manufacturing industries, from medical equipment and mobility to power generation.
By getting access to design processes, product design files and otherwise “walled-garden” digital fabrication systems, consumers 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.
