Open sourcing prosthetics, one amputee at a time
Some argue that open source only works in large markets. One Iraq veteran begs to differ.
In a fascinating article in the most recent Scientific American, Iraq veteran Jonathan Kuniholm describes how his Open Prosthetics Project (OPP) is using open-source methodologies to bring enhanced prosthetics for a market that may only number 100,000 people. The goal? Invite amputees and other interested onlookers to "pimp my arm."
In fact, given the small size of the target market, it may be that an open-source approach is the only credible way to proceed, as Kuniholm notes:
The reality is that there's no traditional economic incentive to do work and make improvements on prosthetics. That doesn't mean that nobody cares, but most people don't have the money or know-how to magnify whatever efforts or improvements they make. I think we can generate far more societal benefit if we give away information than if we commercialized and sold the ideas. Our goal is to create a way to share these efforts and improvements with anyone who needs them.
An Eclipse or Mozilla Foundation for prosthetics, in other words.
What a great testament to the potential power of open source, offering hope of improved prosthetics. It's great to see open source delivering exceptional software. It will be even better to see it delivering improved medical technology.
Matt Asay brings a decade of in-the-trenches open-source business and legal experience to The Open Road, with an emphasis on emerging open-source business strategies and opportunities. Matt is vice president of business development at Alfresco, a company that develops open-source software for content management. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure. You can follow Matt on Twitter @mjasay. 
