create an open lab

General documentation

• MESI memo for the collaborative economy [see also the french version]

• The age of the collaborative entrepreneur

• Économie Collaborative - présentation pour MESI

• A lot more on the OVN wiki

• How-to - OVN proto-manual

Larger ecosystems, see NOICE - LEVOICE - Verdun project

Study the examples below, remix from them.

• Sensorica Montreal lab

• add others...

CAUTION: Starting up a new open lab or a new OVN requires a lot of experience and know-how. Mistakes can be very costly. We strongly encourage you to contact us for support.

Design considerations

Decide on the vocation of your open space. This determines what's in the space, how it is arranged, safety and security features, governance, economic model, etc.

Take the following characteristics into consideration in your design process.

• Transparent: provide easy access to information about activities contained within

• Open: provide easy access to participation in activities

• Shared: makes cohabitation easy, contains shareable materials, tools and equipment

• Collaborative: foster collaborative behavior

• Modular: can easily be modified to accommodate new activities

• add others...

Read about Legolab and Labonline.

Growth

Design and implement the following processes:

• Outreach (visibility, communication, value proposition) - how do I know that you exist and why would I pay attention?

• On boarding - how do I join?

  • Greeting (welcome, presentation, demo, orientation) - my first interaction and impression?

  • Joining (granting credentials, membership) - how do I join?

  • Facilitation (orientation, help, support) - how do I do stuff?

• Leaving - what happens if I become inactive or quit?

Navigation

Design signalization, consider function, safety and security. See examples.

Administration

Define support roles with responsibilities and benefits (example from Sensorica lab).

Define important tasks to maintain the space and the community, consider incentives, adopt a task management tool (Ex. Trello).

Define important procedures and methodologies. Get more information from the administration of the Sensorica lab.

Resources

Think about the various types of resources that you need to gather and allocate

• Tangible

  • • Material: consumables, tools, equipment, furniture, space

    • Currency: money, tokens

• Intangible

  • • Branding

With respect to the lifetime: kick start --> roll --> close/re-purpose

IT tools

• Documentation - any open and shared service, can be Google Drive, in conjunction with an integration and aggregation tool such as a website (Google Sites for example).

• Coordination - any open and shared service, can be Google Calendar, Trello, etc

• Contribution accounting system - See Sensorica's NRP-CAS

• Planning - see Sensorica's Trello, also use the NRP-CAS

• Inventory - see Sensorica's inventory using the NRP-CAS

• Decision making - See Loomio

• add others...

Governance

Formulate lab access rules - get inspired from Sensorica lab rules.

If you sublet space, subleasing agreement - remix from Sensoirca's template.

Formalize relation with a Custodian - remix from Sensorica's template (under development).

Endogenous project governance - remix from Sensorica's template.

Service project governance - remix from Sensorica's template.

Custodian Agreement for projects - remix from Sensorica's template.

Deal with for-profit organisations - open Sensorica's doc.

Partnership and memorandum of understanding - remix from Sensorica's template.

Open Innovation Partnership Agreement - remix from Sensorica's template.

Exchange Firm Agreement for projects - remix from Sensorica's template.