Commons-Based Peer Production

A new kind of value creation

Commons-based peer production (CBPP) is a production method. Commons are shared resources that are managed by their producers themselves. These are often knowledge, but can also be physical goods. Peer production is production by equal peers, i.e. producing individuals. CBPP therefore stands for the production of self-managed resources by equal producers.

Open knowledge

CBPP, in its basic definition, contradicts classical economic explanations. And yet, many CBPP-based goods have already found their way into everyday life, for example in the form of software.

CBPP generally means that the value creation process is open to everyone who can contribute to a product. The knowledge of all participants is pooled and shared free of charge. Therefore, participation in CBPP projects is often motivated by incentives other than financial ones.

Economic potential

The economic potential of CBPP is nevertheless significant. It is achieved through the global pooling of development resources. By keeping the entry threshold for peers low and enabling many of them to work on a shared product regardless of location, considerable productive power is generated without a large capital investment.

Technology that people want

The benefit to the community is a driver for such value creation. CBBP serves as the roadmap for the New Production Institute in building open-source technologies. “Technology that people truly want” has long been a guiding principle in the development of new products. The New Production Institute’s cooperative approach is based on collective intelligence, citizen participation, and the development of the theory of collaborative value creation. Studies conducted at the Laboratory for Manufacturing Technology at Helmut Schmidt University in Hamburg have shown that open labs can have a significant impact on factors that promote innovation and invention. This finding has already been successfully translated into practice on several occasions.
Research

Our objectives

A key objective of the New Production Institute’s projects is to support the introduction and development of open fabrication and open-source hardware laboratories, or Open Labs, using CBPP. These are intended to function as educational, training, and innovation incubators in cooperation with local universities, research institutions, companies, and communities – that is, tinkerers, start-ups, and citizens.

One outcome of this should be empowerment, i.e., equipping people at the local level with the knowledge, skills and necessary technical means to participate in local and global sustainable value creation processes.