Open Source beyond software: An empirical investigation of the open design phenomenon

Citation: Kerstin Balka, Christina Raasch, Cornelius Herstatt (2009/04/30) Open Source beyond software: An empirical investigation of the open design phenomenon. R&D Management Conference (RSS)
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Tagged: open source (RSS), Open Innovation (RSS)

Summary

Authors collect and analyze data on 76 projects cataloged at http://open-innovation-projects.org/ using open source methodologies for design of physical products. Borrowing an earlier innovation framework, six categories of project characteristics are identified: actors, governance structure, innovative outcome, object, development process, and environment.

Authors explain and test 5 hypotheses based on previous findings concerning open source software development:

H1: The size of the community is positively correlated with project ad- vancement.

Confirmed.

H2: The participation of commercial contributors is positively correlated with project advancement.

Confirmed.

H3: Highly restrictive licenses are negatively correlated with project ad- vancement.

Unable to determine. Trademark activity weakly correlated with later stage projects, public domain with earlier stage.

H4: Activity is positively correlated with project advancement.

Confirmed.

H5: Addressing an advanced audience is positively correlated with project

Not confirmed. Authors indicate this could be worth investigating as a way tangible design differs from software.

Data presented interesting independent of analysis, shows diverse range of open design projects in terms of each of the categories of project characteristics cataloged.