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Prototyping (the) Innovation Ecology
Bending the Rules: The Fab Lab Innovation Ecology
I presented this paper at the 11th International CINet Conference, Zurich, Switzerland, 5-7 September 2010. It reflects my vision on a commons-base peer-production innovation ecology: "Digital fabrication becoming available at low cost and open source ideas approaching the physical realm are changes that challenge rules of manufacturing and intellectual property protection. Emerging innovation ecosystems begin to embrace these developments; one of them is the network of MIT conceived fabrication laboratories (Fab Labs). The paper reports two studies; the first examines intellectual property (IP) protection and licensing in the context low-cost fabrication and commons- based peer production, the second investigates the business models of selected Fab Labs located in urban neighbourhoods in industrialized countries. Study 1 indicates that open source as an alternative to conventional IP rights protection is possible and established practice, yet it is still a novelty to many. Study 2 finds that Fab Labs mainly portray themselves as providers of fabrication facilities, but some actually market the possibility of low-cost fabrication to business customers who previously conceived making things as not viable. The paper proposes a model for the value creation, delivery, and capture mechanisms essential to a Fab Lab innovation ecology based on the combination of an open source approach and low-cost fabrication employed in unforeseen applications."
Comments
The major reason for business
The major reason for business models is convincing potential investors. Therefore it ties the question of business models for commons-based innovation to who are its investors. Is there any reference study about investment in commons-based innovation, including but not limited to open-source software industry? More generally, what is the perception of investors about "open" intellectual property?
Sébastien: "The major reason
Sébastien: "The major reason for business models is convincing potential investors" -- that's an interesting and provocative thought, yet not exactly what I'm looking for. I would see the main reason why to study the business model for fab labs is to look for ways how to make them (economically) sustainable.
On a second thought:
It is true that one question then could be what an investor's perspective would be -- and if we open up the term investor (not only thinking of investing money, but also investing time, knowledge and reputation), then the discussion becomes really meaningful.
Knowledge multiplies easily, so does probably reputation -- however money and time are finite. Could it be that we would be looking at two fundamentally different mechanism to make investors "rich"?
I agree on opening the
I agree on opening the definition of investors. But, still, unlike open-source softwares, Fab Labs need investors that invest a significant amount of money, and not only time, knowledge or reputation. The next question is, as you suggest it, what is the expected return on investment. That would be something to explore systematically: for each type of investment, what is the proportion of investors expecting each type of return. I guess the initial assessment could be made with a survey, which results could be presented as a matrix (a 4x4 matrix with the possibilities mentioned above). Maybe we could carry this survey in the context of the course? This, together with a few interviews (to refine the scope of the survey and help the interpretation of its results) could give substance to a white paper, which we may be able to publish somewhere. What do you think?