The Open Hardware Creators in Academia Fellowship celebrates advances in open hardware throughout higher education. The Fellowship recognizes leaders in their fields doing open hardware and invites them to create content to assist other academics in their open hardware journey. This award amplifies the importance of time spent creating documentation and information in the academic community that will further the movement as a whole and value the work of doing open hardware and partnering with mentors, industry, and other institutions as a team effort to collaborate, build upon, and expand the work of open hardware being created under the academic umbrella.

The one year fellowship provides $50,000 or $100,000 grants to individuals who are leading the way as open source hardware expands into academia. The program recognizes open source hardware community members as they succeed in academia, supporting them as they make it easier to follow their path. Documentation is key to open source hardware, and these Fellowships will support the development of documentation for how to successfully make open source hardware work across a broad spectrum of academic environments and departments.  

 The Open Hardware Creators in Academia Fellowship is designed to:

1. Recognize existing leaders

2. Give those leaders tools to expand their work

3. Encourage the leaders’ institutions to recognize and value their work

4. Identify and accelerate the development and dissemination of information about developing open hardware within the context of universities 

5. Leverage diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice initiatives to broaden the community of open hardware practitioners at universities 

6. Pair leaders with industry mentors to share knowledge when applicable