Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

Open Source Ecology - Alfred P. Sloan Foundation - Letter of Inquiry.pdf

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation - Letter of Inquiry - $125k

by Aaron Makaruk

Submitted 1/16/12

Dear Mr. Doron Weber,

Open Source Ecology redesigns vital industrial/agricultural machinery to make it easy to build, easy to service, and low in cost. We train individuals and communities to produce their own productive capital and establish small businesses based on the combined outputs of multiple machines. Our primary objective is to facilitate the emergence of an entire open source economy, with relocalized industry, bringing jobs and wealth back to communities.

In order to make key economic information as widely available as possible, we maintain an archive of comprehensive online documentation for each machine design that includes: (1) design rationale; (2) 3D CAD files; (3) 2D fabrication drawings; (4) CAE analyses; (5) CAM files (where applicable); (6) exploded parts diagrams; (7) bills of materials and sourcing information; (8) scaling calculations; (9) A-Z instructionals; and (10) cost and performance comparisons to industry standards. We also produce detailed instructional videos covering fabrication and use in the context of an economic enterprise. All information in the archive is open source, which means that everything will be refined and improved over time through collaborative, worldwide development similar to the way that Wikipedia has evolved.

Our current focus for the next 12 months is the development of 50 key pieces of technology that work together in additive processes that generate industrial micro-ecologies, hence the name Open Source Ecology. We have named this platform the Global Village Construction Set, and the projected budget for the entire process, from design, through prototyping and field testing, to documentation, is $2.2 million. We would like to discuss a proposal in the amount of $125,000.

Open Source Ecology is a lean startup, founded by Dr. Marcin Jakubowski, a Princeton graduate with a PhD from the University of Wisconsin in Physics. He is a 2011 TED Fellow and has garnered a network of advisors through exposure in the national media, including the honor of being named the sixth best TED Talk of 2011. Open Source Ecology is a collaborative effort of many, including our True Fans, numbered at over 520 supporters, who contribute $10/month to support our mission, as well as regional collaborators from Europe to Texas.

Thank you for considering our organization.

Sincerely,

Aaron Makaruk

Development Officer

aaronmakaruk@gmail.com