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Global Open Science Hardware

FEATURE

Global

Open

Science

Hardware

embers of the Global Open Science

Hardware (GOSH) community

believe that scientific progress is

being held back by high equipment

costs, proprietary designs, and

suffocating intellectual property

restrictions. However, a new report, crowdsourced

from over 100 contributors in 30 countries, suggests

that open-source hardware, digital fabrication, and

collaborative research tools can provide academics and

citizen scientists alike with a promising new solution.

The community gathered in Santiago for GOSH

2017, to discuss strategies on how open scientific

technologies can be made accessible to all levels of

society, particularly researchers in developing countries

and communities wanting to gather and analyse data

about their environment. The event, organised by Dr

Max Liboiron, an environmental scientist from the

Memorial University of Newfoundland, resulted in the

completion of a “Roadmap for making Open Science

Hardware ubiquitous by 2025.”

The GOSH Roadmap includes detailed guidelines

for providing global access to scientific hardware that

can be fabricated using open-source designs, rather

than ordered from a catalogue. “Reproducibility is a

hallmark of good science, and Open Science Hardware

allows for greater reproducibility,” explains GOSH’s

community manifesto, which was co-authored by Dr

Liboiron and Greg Austic, in consensus with attendees

from the first GOSH event in 2016 at CERN in Geneva.

GOSH defines Open Science Hardware as any

piece of hardware used for scientific investigation that

can be obtained, assembled, used, studied, modified,

shared, and sold by anyone. This includes standard lab

equipment, as well as auxiliary items such as sensors,

biological reagents, and electronic components.

Dr Liboiron believes that many scientific

endeavours are being held back by lack of access

to the tools/materials required for even routine

experimental techniques, which severely limits the

ability of groups to engage in the scientific process.

Even with access to existing proprietary solutions,

customising hardware to meet the needs of individual

experimental setups is challenging, which can

restrict the implementation of experimental designs

and push back scientific progress. “The fact that a

lot of modern scientific equipment is a consumer

product that is patented, not supplied with full

Inside the fight to provide global

access to scientific hardware by 2025

Cameron Norris

Cameron is a

technology and

communications

specialist, passionate

about the use of open-

source hardware for

social innovation.

@cameronsnorris

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