Summer of Open Hardware

[lira.lg]

Hi guys, I am talking with an academic colleague in US about a Summer
of Open Hardware, similar to Google Summer of Code but in small scale
and for hardware projects.
Other organizations are running similar programs as RUBY, GNOME, KDE.

We are looking for funds from crowdsourcing financing sites. What do
you think about this idea???

[Ali-Reza Anghaie]

Conceptually I think it's a great idea. It would be fantastic if you
could get one or three big corporate partners/sponsors too. Or maybe
places like the Linux Foundation or some HAM Radio Leagues, etc.

Crowdsourcing is a good idea too if, like the concept, the selection
processes are clearly defined, staffed w/ qualified people, and have a
historic record to go against in the future.

Good luck.

[lira.lg]

I dont have sponsor and my contacts are limited. In the past I had
received grants from Lemelson Foundation, Coca Cola, Motorola,
Technoserve, and others but my projects were about appropriate
technologies.

Some idea? How to get sponsors?

[Ali-Reza Anghaie]

Start by reading about the licenses and sponsors of other projects
that are linked of the Open Source Hardware Wiki entry.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open-source_hardware

Based on following links to FLOSC projects from there, including those
who adopted or considered adopting the OHL, it appears some get
sponsorship from publishers (O'Reilly), from Amateur Radio groups
(locally and regional), and Universities.

That might be a good place to start generating a target list of sponsors. -Ali

[Marcin Jakubowski]

Friends,

I would like to chime in by saying that we'll be holding our first major Factor e Farm Convergence (Kansas City Area) on September 1-30 to make major strides on the ground with respect to the Global Vilage Construction Set (GVCS) development. This will be like Foo Camp, except longer, and focused towards on-the-ground prototyping, development, and documentation of the GVCS,  by invitation only. It will be an Apollo Program for the GVCS.

Contact me if you're interested in the development - building, prototyping, documentation, and other work. You will be expected to lead the development of your proposed project during the Convergence. Our goal is to prototype at least 10 of the 50 GVCS machines, including supporting hardware such as modern steam engines, stepper motors, hydraulic motors, and electrical generators. We expect at least a $100k budget available for this, via Kickstarter and other crowd funding initiatives in development. So come to see the tractors rumble, torch tables fire, and solar collectors electrify.

This will be an unprecedented sociotechnological phenomenon, dedicated to pushing the open source movement forward and to developing a solid platform for Distributive Enterprise. We are looking for everyone from CAD, design, fabrication, prototyping, videography, natural building, energy, transportation, technical writing, graphics and design, media, systems egineering, and other subject matter experts - all the infrastrcture that takes our prototypes to Full Product Release. Read our Crash Course and Blog to see our present status. We are expecting about 100 people to converge, and we expect a merry and productive time with participants from all over the globe.

See my related TED Talk, and print our new  Brochure to give to your friends. Tweet and spread this message. Join us if you're interested in creating history.

Thanks for your time. I posted this message here - http://bit.ly/k7VaVe

Marcin

[lira.lg]

Hi Marcin, your project is wonderful

The Lemelson foundation is running a program called RAMP for support
local inventors in India, Indonesia and Peru. 90% of projects are
about machines for agriculture, energy generation, building blocks,
water pumping, food processing, etc. In 2008 a received a grant from
the Lemelson foundation for the development of a appropriate
technology for fresh products preservation (in big scale) in rural
communities of the Andes of Peru. Now I am working in a system for
water treatment here the abstract:

"Point of use household water treatment system: The system is a
practical and effective solution for providing sustained access to
safe water in Peru. The system use biosand filters, chlorination and
safe storage which are identified as the most effective according to
our research and having the greatest potential to become widely used
in Peru. The goal of our system is to empower people without access to
clean water to improve water quality by treating it and storing it in
the home."

However I am interested in OS Hardware because this is an option for
develop low cost devices for health or environment monitoring or
automatic selection of seeds or rural telecommunications, etc.