The State of Open Source Hardware 2021
The open source hardware community has exploded since the first Open Hardware Summit in 2010. The community has grown to include an incredibly diverse group of people working on an incredibly diverse set of hardware. From science researchers to musicians, from educators to designers, from multinational companies to local hackerspaces, open hardware has expanded in every conceivable direction.
This resource encourages you to step back and reflect on the growth of the community. It relies heavily on OSHWA’s Open Hardware Certification Program, the annual Open Hardware Summit, and the annual Open Hardware Community Survey to understand how the open hardware community got here and where it might be headed. The Certification Program is a free way for open source hardware creators to confirm to the world that their projects comply with the community definition of open source hardware. The Open Hardware Summit is the place for the entire open hardware community to come together in order to learn, share, and grow. And the Community Survey is a snapshot of how the community has grown around open hardware. While no single resource can capture the full breadth of open hardware, we hope that everyone sees a bit of themselves here. Thank you for being part of the community.
More than Just MicroControllers
Growth of the Movement
The Open Hardware Certification Program gives us an easy way to track the worldwide expansion of open source hardware since the program launched in 2016. The data - now accessible via API - illustrates how the open hardware community has grown into a truly international movement. Today the community has certified hardware from over 45 countries on every continent except Antarctica.
Certifications BY year
Data as of July 1, 2021
Year of first certification by country
The Projects Certified
OSHWA certifies a broad range of open source hardware. Perhaps not surprisingly, project managers identify their hardware as electronics most often. Moving beyond electronics helps us understand the breadth of the open source hardware community.
Top Certifiers
Adafruit and Sparkfun Electronics are longtime pillars of the open source hardware community. Their longevity and depth of offerings help them to dominate the list of top certifiers. As we move down the list we find certifiers from many different countries working in areas as diverse as electronics, disaster relief, and outdoor gear. Olimex and ANAVI Technology help give Bulgaria one of the highest per capita certification rates in the world.
Electronics is the largest category of certified hardware. That umbrella category includes microcontrollers, musical instruments, jewelry, medical devices, and more from around the world.
Looking beyond the electronics category reveals the diversity of countries and categories that make up the open source hardware community.
The People of Open Source Hardware
Open Hardware Summit
Founded in 2010 by Alicia Gibb and Ayah Bdeir, the annual Open Hardware Summit is the place where the open source hardware community comes together in person. The Summit features speakers, demos, and discussions that help highlight some of the best of what is happening in open source hardware each year. With videos of talks available online, the Summit’s archives also provide snapshots of the state of open source hardware over time.
Open Hardware Summit Speakers
Open Hardware Summit speakers come from diverse backgrounds and have wide ranging areas of focus. Each year OSHWA and the Summit chairs strive to create a program that highlights the breadth of the community and gives the community an opportunity to see itself represented on stage.
Ada Lovelace Fellowship
The Ada Lovelace Fellowship was founded in 2013 prior to that year’s Open Hardware Summit by Summit Chair Addie Wagenknecht and OSHWA Executive Director Alicia Gibb. Since its inception there have been 73 Ada Fellows from around the world. The Fellowship encourages women, LGTBQ+, and/or other minorities in open technology and culture to actively participate in and foster a more diverse community within open source hardware. It provides tickets and travel support to help Fellows attend the Summit, as well as community-building opportunities at the Summit itself.
Open Hardware Summit Chairs
2010
Alicia Gibb
Ayah Bdeir
2011
Alicia Gibb
Ayah Bdeir
2012
Catarina Mota
Dustyn Roberts
2013
Addie Wagenknecht
Jimmie Rodgers
2014
Addie Wagenknecht
Simone Circero
2015
Addie Wagenknecht
Dustyn Roberts
2016
Addie Wagenknecht
Kat Miller
2017
Addie Wagenknecht
2018
Addie Wagenknecht
2020
Rolly Seth
OSHWA Board
The all-volunteer OSHWA Board is elected to staggered two-year terms. Board Members are responsible for operating OSHWA’s programs, supporting the Open Hardware Summit, and acting as liaisons between OSHWA and the broader open source hardware community.
Oluwatobi Oyinlola
Ibadan
Javier Serrano
Saint-Genis-Pouilly
Drew Fustini
Portland / Berlin
Joe McManus
Moab
Nadya Peek
Seattle
Katherine Scott
San Francisco
Salman Faris
Malappuram
Michael Weinberg
New York City
Shah Selbe
Long Beach
Who Makes Open Hardware?
The annual Open Hardware Community Survey is an opportunity to create a snapshot of the state of the open hardware community. The Survey provides insightful information and data into how community members found open source hardware and what they do as part of the community. These questions allow for multiple responses, so many respondents identify a number of ways they work within open hardware.
How did you first get involved with open source hardware?
Have you ever used others' open source hardware designs to...?
How do you use open source hardware products?
Have you ever...?
The Growth of the Open Source Hardware Universe
The open source hardware community has grown rapidly over time, creating new organizations as well as welcoming existing ones. While no list will ever be complete, these are some of the governmental and nonprofit organizations that help make up that community. They join countless open source hardware companies, some of which are represented in the top certifiers chart.
Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA)
Academic Journals in OSHW
HardwareX
Journal of Open Hardware
Journal of Open Engineering
Bio, Medical, and Emergency Response
Field Ready
Get Us PPE
Global Community Bio Summit
Open Source Medical Supplies
Safecast
Community Organizations
BeagleBoard.org
e-NABLE
Open Hardware Makers
Open Research Institute
OpenAir Collective
Open Ecology
Open Compute Project
RepRap.org
Wildlabs.net
Documentation Repositories
Materiom
Kitspace.org
NIH 3D Print Exchange
Open Know-How
Ecology and Conservation
Arribada Initiative
AudioMoth
Conservify
FieldKit
FreakLabs
OpenCollar
Funding Organizations
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
Chan Zuckerberg Initiative
Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Shuttleworth Foundation
Open Chip Design
CHIPS Alliance
Free and Open Source Silicon Foundation
Free Silicon Foundation
lowRISC
OpenHW Group
Open Source FPGA Foundation
RISC-V
Open Hardware in Science
AfricaOSH
CERN
GOSH
reGOSH
Open Ephys
Public Lab
Standards Organizations
DIN
IEEE SA
OpenForum Europe
Think Tanks and Research Centers
Engelberg Center on Innovation Law & Policy, NYU Law
Public Knowledge
Wilson Center
Credits
The following images were used in accordance with their respective open licenses:
IN000015: CERN OHL P 2.0
ES000020: Gonzalo P. Chomón CC BY-SA 4.0
US000205: Field Ready CC BY 4.0
CA000005: Biem ETC Design CC BY 4.0
MX000003: Electronic Cats CERN OHL 1.2
DE000103: Kolibri CC BY SA 4.0
SE000008: Anuradha Reddy CC BY 4.0
CH000001: GaudiLabs CC BY-SA 2.5 Switzerland
The portrait of Ada Lovelace was created in 1840 in the United Kingdom, and as such is in the public domain. The portrait itself is in the collection of the Science Museum Group (UK), which makes the digital version available on its website. Science Museum Group claims to release the digital version under a CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license. OSHWA does not believe that the Science Museum Group has any rights in the work to license in the United States, thus making the license a legal nullity in the United States. OSHWA also believes that Science Museum Group’s purported licensing practices contravene the intent and letter of recent EU copyright directives. OSHWA urges users to consult local copyright law before deciding whether the license is binding upon them.