[Off-topic] non- or semi-commercial engineering

Hi all,

I'm involved with an informal group called "Sharing Ireland" and wanted to invite some of you to get involved. (See below for link and more information on Sharing Ireland.)

Personally, I'm an engineering student and am giving a lot of thought at the moment to setting up some sort of "semi-commercial" engineering company/collective. I think that something like this is very badly needed in Ireland and am willing to stick my neck out to invite dialogue on the issue. (Actually I think dozens of initiatives like this are needed - not just one - but that's for another day). I can try to explain the details of what I have in mind in due course but let me first try to explain why I am mentioning this here.

Firsly, I have enormous faith in open-source software and engineering - not only has it had a dramatic impact on my own life and learning, it also offers perhaps the most compelling evidence ever that innovation and development can take place outside a commercial context.
Secondly, Reprap is one of the coolest open-source hardware projects you will find - and, if I do help to set up some sort of initiative, I/we would almost certainly be building/sharing/selling 3D printers.
Thirdly I want to invite readers directly to be involved in this - I want to work with people who are already familiar with open-source tools and communities. This would need people who not only have the right ethos but who are also highly talented.

I say "semi-commercial" because, regardless of how much I, or others, want to bring about an alternative, we obviously need money in the short/medium-term. So it's a sort of "compromise". And, although I only really want to work with people who have a similar vision to my own (i.e. they're not in it purely for the money), there would have to be a fun element to the venture as well - which would more-than-likely require money in the short-term.

These are just ideas - whether or not they are viable I do not know. But if anyone's interested do let me know. You can respond either here, by PM, or on Facebook (see link below).

david

Sharing Ireland @Facebook: [www.facebook.com] .

Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/04/2012 06:28AM by dslc.

Hi all. Just to follow up on this ...

As I implied above, I am keen to set up an engineering organisation with a "semi-commercial" outlook in the very near future. This would be in or near Dublin and we would probably be working on Reprap machines initially (probably the Prusa model specifically) - but the scope of activities would not necessarily be limited to this in the medium/long-term.

I am now looking for people to do this with (it probably won't happen otherwise) and wanted to extend the invite here. I have posted a formal notice with a few more details on my personal website: http://indigo.uk.to/~david/notice.php.

There is also a notice on the Sharing Ireland website: [www.sharingireland.net] .

If you're interested and if you fit the criteria outlined on the above link then let me know.

david

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Semi-commercial engineering | Reprap diary

I posted a notice about this on boards.ie a few weeks ago, and - following feedback from that - there will probably be a small meeting on Saturday afternoon in Dublin to discuss this. See post for details - on contact me privately.

Hi, just saw your post, I would be interested in hooking up, I know I missed your meeting yesterday, maybe in the new year,
I have a couple of ideas to bounce around.

Regards
Huey

Hi Huey. Meeting went ok, although things were left sort of up in the air. Anyway, there will probably be more meetings in the New Year.

Send me a PM if you want to keep up to speed with what we're doing. I might not remember to post updates here.

D

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Semi-commercial engineering | Reprap diary

There might be another meeting about this next weekend. I'll try to post details here in due course - so keep an eye on this thread if you're interested.

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Semi-commercial engineering | Reprap diary