Thinking open source and replicability: investments fund machines that, once designed, become available to all of humanity.
Thinking open source and replicability: investments fund machines that, once designed, become available to all of humanity.
Investment
Supporting the Design Office means funding tangible results: energy calculations, 3D plans, prototypes, proofs of concept and published articles. Every franc entrusted becomes documented and replicable solar commons that lastingly enrich the technology portfolio, for the benefit of all. Hours are only a unit of measurement: what is funded is what remains.
Every contribution leads to a published, measurable deliverable: a plan, a prototype, a proof of concept, a tool, a file.
Every deliverable becomes a portfolio sheet, or moves a sheet from « documented » to « validated · POC », then to a replicable FabLab version.
Solar plastic recycling, sun-puffed cereals: two world firsts that reflect our determination to make solar heat compatible with decentralised applications.
Deliverables
Volumes per year and hours per deliverable estimated from each profile's time. The cost of a deliverable depends on its type and scale.
Energy calculations, 3D and 2D plans, BOM, prototype, proof of concept, published article and launch campaign.
Parametric model, cutting files, prototype and measurements: a replicable version.
Specifications, plans, BOM and costs, published online in the portfolio.
Drawing, prototype, ergonomics and 3D files published as open source.
Two online solar calculation tools and an AI dissemination agent.
Programme, supervision in a FabLab and developments documented by the residents.
The portfolio presented to an institution, an NGO or a company facing a challenge.
Preparing materials and assembly, paid 30 CHF/h, close to production sites.
Coordinating contributors, tracking deliverables and hosting by the Antenna Foundation.
Flights for the residencies and the Accra SunFactory Lab (8,500), public impact report (3,000), contingencies (5,000).
The sum of the deliverables above, all published as open source and added to the technology portfolio.
Average amounts per deliverable: contributors' work at their hourly rate, plus prototype materials (10,000 CHF per year in total). Added together, they make up the annual budget.
Amounts
These are not sale prices: they are research, IT and dissemination costs, incurred once and for all.
Calculations, tests, iterations and measurements up to the proof of concept. Once developed, a kit is reproduced at the cost of materials and assembly: ≈ 1,240 CHF for the injection kit.
Online calculation tools, published sheets, files and campaigns: without them, a technology stays in the workshop. They put it in the hands of those who need it.
Published under free licences, every development can be reproduced anywhere without licence fees. The more it is replicated, the closer its cost per use gets to zero.
Revenue
Donations fund what cannot be sold; developments and kits fund the rest.
Architecture
Funding committed once benefits everyone who reproduces the machine afterwards.
Foundations, local authorities, public programmes, patrons and institutions facing a challenge.
Donations · grants · mandatesHosts the project: it receives the funds intended for the Design Office and pays the contributors' mandates.
Receipt · distributionResearch, proofs of concept, custom developments and training.
Hours counted per projectPlans, BOM, code and articles published under open licence, durably accessible to all.
Free · replicableThey make and sell objects, train people and create jobs; they can acquire any content of the technology portfolio or get support.
Local income · jobs↺ Back to the commons: improvements by local actors return to the Design Office and enrich the portfolio.
Why it works
A donation to research is never used up: it becomes open knowledge that others turn into activity. Every franc donated generates solar commons and enables local actors to produce, sell and make a living from solar energy: this is how a decentralised solar economy is born.
A machine funded once by research is replicated everywhere, with no new R&D cost. What is published stays acquired, whatever happens.
Open plans and costs: customers know what they are buying and can repair it. The Design Office sells its expertise, not a patent rent.
With the published commons, local actors make, sell and train in the sun. They become self-financing, create jobs and in turn become customers for kits and developments.
Legal and fiscal hosting by the non-profit Antenna Foundation: it receives the funds and pays the mandates. Costs published project by project, hours included.
Tiers
Each amount corresponds to an identifiable deliverable.
The portfolio presented to an institution, an NGO or a company facing a challenge.
Designed, prototyped and published as open source.
Specifications, plans, BOM and costs, published online in the portfolio.
An online solar calculation tool or an AI dissemination agent.
Programme, supervision in a FabLab and documented developments.
A machine made replicable in any FabLab.
From calculation to publication: 3D plans, prototype, proof of concept and article.
≈ 8 to 10 more sheets in the portfolio, coordination, assembly and costs included.
Average amounts, based on contributors' hourly rates by trade and experience.
Roadmap