One year after its certification platform was unveiled, the Open Source Hardware Association (OSHWA) has certified more than 250 certified open hardware projects worldwide from a variety of domains. OSHWA, directed by Alicia Gibb, who also directs the ATLAS BTU Lab, developed certification project with help from a $56,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation "to support the development of a dynamic, web-based platform to facilitate the adoption, licensing and improvement of open source hardware."
The certification offers a new option in the landscape of Intellectual Property for hardware, and the new website includes a directory of open source projects, Gibb says. There is also an educational component for new users to understand what it means to open source their hardware.
"The certification intends to empower the open hardware community to follow the open source hardware definition with a licensing structure behind it, making it bear more weight through trademark law," she says.
