# Cooperative Open Hardware Organizaiton Notes

## Contents

[ToC]

## Possible International Cooperative Operation - Compiled from Several Sources

Note: this is all just initial theory and discussion)

* Dedicated to technology for the common good, such as open science hardware, appropriate technology, assistive technology, conservation/preservation technology, climate change mitigation technology, etc.
* Acts as central hub, handling marketing and possibly handling legal, administrative expenses, taxes, etc. Kind of an "umbrella".
* Would facilitate revenue sharing between manufacturers, designers, and practitioners (i.e. researchers). Some ideas have been put forth on that [here](https://7bindustries.com/blog/revenue_sharing_1.html).
* Generates revenue through:
* Membership fees
* Online storefront
* Consulting services?
* Grant/government funding
* Community donations
* Regularly connects all cooperative members (individuals and institutions like GOSH, OSHWA, OSEG, Adafruit, universities etc.) to identify common needs and pool financial and time resources (e.g. for standardization, industrial cooperation or research and development services)
* Provides an on-line storefront
* Has something like an advisory committee to help select the open hardware projects that will be carried in the on-line store.
* Users buy from the store, selecting a manufacturer in their region
* Manufacturers are rated by users based on things like manufacturing quality and customer service
* Un-rated manufacturers are buyer-beware to start with, although there could be a certification process that would give them a badge on the site
* Manufacturers would contribute a portion of their sales that come through the co-op back to be shared with those involved in development, testing, etc.
* Designs could be rated as a way to encourage the development and use of high quality open hardware designs. They could also be rated based on how reproducable they are, how adaptable they are to local contexts, and how modular they are.
* Designers could have ratings based on things like their design ratings.
* This could have a gamification element that is tied to economic incentives. For an example of gamification inside a community that seems well-done, see [printables.com](https://blog.prusa3d.com/introducing-a-new-reward-system-and-badges-for-prusaprinters_60073/).
* Practitioners who are involved in the development and testing would be entitled to a share of the revenue.
* Works with developers, practitioners and manufactuers to provide consulting services to governments, companies and individuals when they need help developing solutions/systems.
* Coordinate with open hardware service centers around the world to support and repair open hardware. This could be done in the same way as manufacturers are handled.
* Individuals and companies could be able to join, but should be on something like a "one entity = one vote" basis, with protections to keep companies and wealthy individuals from gaining inequitable influence.

## Discussion Items Not Integrated Into the Above Outline Yet

- *Paul:* Cooperatives of self-employed like "Smart eG" (Germany) help those to pool resources for taxes, administrative expenses etc., "platform cooperativism" is considered a key factor to organize and finance basic services for those, whose work is for a "greater good" - and funds like Zebras Unite are dedicated to support cooperative missions like these.
- *Paul:* SCE is a European supranational cooperative body one could use) as it fills the gap between NGO and usual businesses.
- *Paul:* That would allow open hardware engineers, researchers, their institutions and other partners to pool resources to develop business models and commercialize their products on the side, but on the same hand re-invest and gain funding for open hardware research and development that is of mutual interest.

## Questions

* What is the role of government policy in this system?
* Where will initial seed funding come from for this?
* How would this organization inventivize and promote high quality open hardware?
* How could this be developed into a full career path for people, affording for things like benefits, insurance, etc.
* What would it look like for researchers to be independent of universities and corporations?
* Is it even possible in the current legal and social framework?
* Do researchers even care about having more independent funding?
* Will one co-op and system work across all regions globally?
* Should this org ever get into the business of funding research, or should it use what is already available?
* What challenges will be present when working across lanugages and cultures?
* Could part of the business model be that an open hardware company would use the cooperative for an ecommerce store front?
* The company's project that is being sold for them in the store would have to be accepted by the advisory committee.
* How would this effect the revenue share?
* How would things like currency exchange rates complicate this process?

## Open Hardware Research Group Links

| Resource | Link |
| ----------------- |:----------------------- |
| Economics of Hardware and Software | [:link:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fg_dS7pZ9SQ&t=76s) |
| Unpacking Open Hardware Economies | [:link:](https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1rGwWrYnDEM38KjzJ17WIUBxmCHzwD5yWDzx3OjyOQSs/edit#slide=id.p)
| Ideas on Open Hardware Revenue Sharing | [:link:](https://7bindustries.com/blog/revenue_sharing_1.html) |
| Openness for democracy: Option or Imperative? | [:link:](https://www.researchgate.net/publication/362346763_Openness_for_democracy_Option_or_Imperative) |

## Resource Links

| Resource | Link | Description |
| ----------------- |:----------------------- |:----------------------- |
| cooperatives europe (website) | [:link:](https://coopseurope.coop/news_article/good-practices-international-cooperative-development-new-study-released) | Study from 2017 outlining good practices in international cooperative development. |
| Starting a Cooperative (website) | [:link:](https://cultivate.coop/wiki/Starting_a_cooperative) | Wiki explaining the steps in starting a co-op, from understanding what a co-op is, to deciding on bylaws, to filing paperwork and beginning operations.
| International Cooperative Alliance (website) | [:link:](https://www.ica.coop/en) | Established in 1895 to promote the cooperative model. Includes 318 organizations across 112 countries as members.
| Platform Cooperativism Consortium (website) | [:link:](https://platform.coop/) | Help that helps users start and maintain platform co-ops. A platform co-op is an employee-owned, democratically run business that sells goods or services mainly through a website or similar means. |
| Documentary on Principles of Worker-Owned Coops (YouTube) | [:link:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8G1-SYMatNc) | A guide for those consideringn worker owed cooperatives, featuring interviews with worker cooperatives. |
| Selling Through Sparkfun (website) | [:link:](https://learn.sparkfun.com/tutorials/how-to-sell-your-widget-on-sparkfun?_ga=2.166792382.1285267194.1540477166-1533260401.1540477166) | An instructional website for those wanting to sell their open hardware products through Sparkfun Electronic's webite. Information from a very successful open hardware company to those wanting to sell similar products. |
| Emerging Open Hardware Business Models (paper) | [:link:](https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/materials_fp/67/) | Several profitable open hardware business models are presented and reviewed. Suggests that open hardware businesses should target technically sophisticated customes first and then target conventional consumers as usability matures. |
| Start.coop (website) | [:link:](https://www.start.coop/) | Works to equip cooperative entrepreneurs with skills and tools and to connect them with capital (funding). |
| Bringing Open Source to the Global Lab Bench (video) | [:link:](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D5Ki4v7W2v8) | Video presentation on the open means of knowledge production using open science tools and instrumentation, and contrasting those with closed source methods and their impacts on researchers. |
| Fabricaciones desde el diálogo: Hardware científico abierto y democratización de la producción de conocimiento en la ‘periferia’ | [:link:](https://thessaly.github.io/phd/) | PHD thesis that asks the question: what if the peer production model was applied to the manufacture of tools for science. There is discussion on distributed production and democtratisation of knowledge production. |
| DotCooperation (identity.coop) | [:link:](https://identity.coop/) | If all 7 cooperative principles are executed, the International Co-operative Alliance allows cooperatives to use the .coop-top domain to highlight the cooperative nature of the respective institution. |
| Pyramids versus circles - the need for more cooperative/collaborative business models for OScH | [:link:](https://journalopenhw.medium.com/open-hardware-distribution-and-documentation-working-group-pyramids-versus-circles-the-need-for-505a4f3a990) | "The group aims to produce a proof of concept for distributed open science hardware (OScH) manufacturing, exploring key aspects like quality, documentation, business models and more using as a starting point a paradigmatic case study."" |
Gathering for Open Science Hardware (GOSH) policy briefs | [:link:](https://openhardware.science/policy-briefs/) | Includes a report for university tech transfer offices, plus summary from the 2021 Research Funding Salons |
Open!Next project | [:link:](https://opennext.eu) | "Resources" tab includes discussions on funding and links to [related initiatives](https://opennext.eu/resources/)
|GraphCommons on the Open Hardware Landscape (edit with me!) (graph)| [:link:](https://graphcommons.com/graphs/c6e6bfee-d3d9-4371-8eb8-0734513e97e9) | Graph showing how open hardware organizations are connected |
| Rochedale principles for Cooperative Organizations (website) | [:link:](https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity#cooperative-principles) | A set of principles that most cooperative organizations adhere to |
| Better Work Together (book) | [:link:](https://betterworktogether.co/) | "A collection of real stories and tools from the front lines of the future of working together" |
| Equitable Research Capacity Towards the Sustainable Development Goals: The Case for Open Science Hardware (paper) | [:link:](https://www.sciencepolicyjournal.org/article_1038126_jspg210202.html) | Provides science funders with three policy recommendations to promote open science hardware for research capacity. |

## Discussion Links

| Discussion | Link |
| ----------------- |:----------------------- |
| Revenue Sharing Discussion | [:link:](https://lists.bath.ac.uk/sympa/arc/oh-research/2022-08/msg00005.html) |
| Round-Table Discussion | [:link:](https://lists.bath.ac.uk/sympa/arc/oh-research/2022-11/msg00010.html) |
| GOSH Discussion | [:link:](https://forum.openhardware.science/t/creating-a-self-sustained-entity-to-support-gosh-initiatives/1494) |
| GOSH Co-op Links | [:link:](https://forum.openhardware.science/t/chasing-zebras-instead-of-unicorns-more-socially-responsible-funding-for-business/4067) |
| GOSH New Funding Concepts | [:link:](https://forum.openhardware.science/t/new-funding-concepts-funding-toolchain-for-gosh/1707) |
| GOSH Private Investment and Incubators | [:link:](https://pad.ucw.sh/mypads/index.html?/mypads/group/gosh-2022-ln7xc8j/pad/view/day-3-o5exc5d) |

## Cooperative Org Example Links

| Resource | Link | Description |
| ----------------- |:----------------------- |:----------------------- |
| Mondragon Corporation | [:link:](https://www.mondragon-corporation.com/en/) | A very larger worker-owned cooperative founded in Spain in 1956 |
| Zebras Unite | [:link:](https://zebrasunite.coop/) | A cooperative investment firm, focusing on social good |
| Loomio | [:link:](https://www.loomio.com/) | Worker-owned co-op developing a decision-making platform for governments and activists |
| Interstitial Technology | [:link:](https://interstitial.coop/) | A cooperative full-stack engineering firm that builds solutions for a better world. |