One of the key tenets of SparkFun Electronics' philosophy is our belief in open source technology. All of our designs are open source, and we think an open market is a healthy market. The Open Source Hardware Association is one of the most important and influential players in the open source world. Every year, they hold the Open Hardware Summit, a venue to discuss and draw attention to the rapidly growing Open Source Hardware movement. This year's event will take place September 6 at MIT, with speakers and world-renowned leaders from industry, academia, and the maker community.
Attendees at the 2012 Open Hardware Summit (photo courtesy of OSHWA)
This year marks SparkFun's fourth year as a sponsor of the event - and this year we're honored to be a marquee sponsor. We really believe in this stuff! Last year one of our engineers, Mike Hord, spoke at the Summit about what happens when open source meets the FCC. This year, SparkFun CEO Nathan will be participating in a panel titled "Implications of Open Source Business: Forking and Attribution," which will discuss the appropriate way to copy something within the bounds of the current definition.
SparkFun Engineers Mike and Toni will be manning a booth at the Summit also, with a whole heap of awesome projects and demos to show off including the new RedBot, the LilyPad MP3 board, the pcDuino and some mockups of exciting upcoming products!
If you're thinking about attending the Open Hardware Summit, you can buy tickets here. We encourage anyone who can attend to come; it's an amazing experience to meet so many open source believers and be part of an inclusive discussion of the open source movement with leaders across the industry. And, if you're already planning on attending, be sure to say hi to Nate, Mike and Toni if you see them!
