Please chose whether you would like to become a member as an individual or as a corporation. Only individuals will be allowed to vote in board members and on issues requiring votes. Corporations will not be allowed to vote, but will have their logo included on the Summit website. Individual membership levels range from $25-$1,000 USD annually.
All donations and membership dues (beyond the cost of providing specific benefits) will be used to support the Open Source Hardware Association’s public-interest purposes.
OSHWA is recognized by the IRS as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt public charity and donations to OSHWA are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Individual MembershipsCorporate Memberships
The Open Source Hardware Association serves as a global platform, known for certifying open source hardware and our annual Open Hardware Summit. OSHWA has been uniting developers, organizers, contributors, advocates, and businesses that make up the OSHW community since 2012. Our membership campaign is dedicated to furthering this vision.
Why join?
Membership provides several benefits to individuals, OSHWA, and the open source hardware community. Individual members can vote for OSHWA board directors. Membership benefits the community by allowing OSHWA to provide more resources for everyone to use, some of which include:
- The Open Source Hardware Association Certification was created in response to overwhelming demand for a clearer and more transparent method of identifying and marketing open source hardware products. The purpose of this certification is to provide an easy and straightforward way for producers to indicate that their products meet a uniform and well-defined standard for open-source compliance, benefiting both creators and consumers of these products. By meeting the requirements for self-certification and completing the process described below, producers may use the Open Source Hardware Certification logo on any open source hardware product.
- The Open Hardware Summit is the annual conference organized by the Open Source Hardware Association. It is the world’s first comprehensive conference on open hardware; a venue and community in which we discuss and draw attention to the rapidly growing Open Source Hardware movement. Speakers include world renowned leaders from industry, academia, the arts and maker community. Talks cover a wide range of subjects from electronics, mechanics to related fields such as digital fabrication, fashion technology, self-quantification devices, and IP law. As a microcosm of the Open Source Hardware community, the Summit provides an annual friendly forum for the community. For over five years we have had an established fellowship which supports travel and admission for women and other minorities as well as hardship tickets for low income individuals. The Open Hardware Summit was founded in 2010 by Alicia Gibb and Ayah Bdeir with support from Peter Semmelhack and Bug Labs in its founding years. Read more about the history of the organization and feel free to contact us with any questions.
- The Summit Fellowship was founded in 2013 prior to the annual Open Hardware Summit at MIT by Summit Chair Addie Wagenknecht and OSHWA Director Alicia Gibb as a way to encourage People of Colour, Indigenous people, women, LGTBQIA+ people in open technology and culture to actively participate and foster a more diverse community within open source. By offering the annual travel and summit conference assistance to community members, OSHWA hopes we as a community can encourage more women, LGBTQIA+ and/or People of Color to participate in open source. We have many strong leaders and speakers in our field and we want to continue the trend upward.
- Enforcement of the Open Source Hardware (OSHW) Definition 1.0, based on the Open Source Definition for Open Source Software. That definition was created by Bruce Perens and the Debian developers as the Debian Free Software Guidelines. The base principles of open source hardware is hardware whose design is made publicly available so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell the design or hardware based on that design. The hardware’s source, the design from which it is made, is available in the preferred format for making modifications to it. Ideally, open source hardware uses readily-available components and materials, standard processes, open infrastructure, unrestricted content, and open-source design tools to maximize the ability of individuals to make and use hardware. Open source hardware gives people the freedom to control their technology while sharing knowledge and encouraging commerce through the open exchange of designs. The definition of open source hardware is what the OSHWA certification enforces, creating accountability for those releasing source files to adhere to both copyleft and permissive licenses outlined in our certification program.
- As the open source hardware community continues to expand, OSHWA is in constant pursuit of new avenues for growth and creative ways to address challenges.
With a strong and creative member base can we continue building a globally recognized platform of trust. OSHWA needs your support to support open source hardware! New members joining provide funds for our operation and community-based initiatives. If you aren’t involved with any of these projects, but you use open source hardware, love it, and want to give back to the community, we’d be honored to help you accomplish that goal through our work and your membership.