Understanding the motivations for open-source hardware entrepreneurship
Name
understanding-the-motivations-for-open-source-hardware-entrepreneurship.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
1.15 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fe1c4be4c99454c08ab6c77caaa21ce4
Author(s)
Li, Zhuoxuan
Seering, Warren
Yang, Maria
Eesley, Charles
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Design Science
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Citation
Li, Zhuoxuan, Seering, Warren, Yang, Maria and Eesley, Charles. 2021. "Understanding the motivations for open-source hardware entrepreneurship." Design Science, 7.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract
Having upended the traditional software development, which historically was centred exclusively on proprietary, copyright-protected code, open-source has now entered the physical artefact world. In doing so, it has started to change not only how physical products are designed and developed, but also the commercialisation process. In recent years, authors have witnessed entrepreneurs intentionally choosing not to patent their product design and technologies but instead licencing the designs and technologies under open-source licences. The entrepreneurs share their product designs online with their community – people who congregated due to the shared interests in products’ technology or project’s social objectives. Founding a startup firm without excluding others from using their own invention is not a common practice. Therefore, there is reason to ask if this choice a strategic decision or irrational action due to short-sightedness or extreme altruism? Conducting interviews with 65 founders, we grounded a framework explaining that the driver of going open is a result of both intrinsic and extrinsic factors. In addition, we observed the change of identities over time among the entrepreneurs. We hope to use this paper as a pilot study of this emerging socio-technological phenomenon, which is understudied relative to the proprietary product commercialisation process.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1017/DSJ.2021.15
