Our Mission
Open Innovation is a not-for-profit foundation where creators, technologists, and companies collaborate on open-source tools, platforms, and standards.
We believe the value isn't in the code. It's in the people who apply it. Everything we build is transparent. Commercialisation comes from execution, expertise, and the collective intelligence of our network, not from gatekeeping.
What We Believe
Open by Default
Code, process, decision-making: all in the open. Not because transparency is trendy, but because closed doors breed stagnation. When you can see how something was built and why, you can improve it, adapt it, or learn from it.
People Over Code
The network of minds is the product. The code is a byproduct. A repository is worthless without the people who understand why it exists and what to build next. We invest in people, not just pull requests.
Experimentation as Culture
Try things publicly, fail visibly, learn collectively. Innovation doesn't happen in polished launches. It happens in rough prototypes, half-formed ideas, and the conversations they spark.
Commercial Honesty
Open source doesn't mean free. We're transparent about how money flows and why. The people who build these tools deserve to be paid. The companies that use them should contribute back. Everyone should be able to see the books.
Rising Tide
Success of one member lifts the whole network. We don't compete with each other. We make each other better. A tool built for one project becomes infrastructure for the next.
Where We Work
Our focus domains reflect where our founding members have deep expertise and where open-source tools are most needed:
- Creative technology & experience design: building the tools that power immersive, interactive, and spatial experiences
- Human-computer interaction: new interfaces, spatial computing, AI-driven interaction, and the future of how people use machines
- Digital twins: virtual representations of physical systems, environments, and processes
- Experience visualisation: making complex experiences visible, plannable, and communicable
- Open standards for emerging industries: where no standard exists yet, we build one in the open
How It Works
Open Innovation has two layers:
The Foundation is the commons: a not-for-profit that stewards open-source projects, governance, and community. It owns no commercial work. It maintains shared infrastructure, standards, and the collective brand.
The Guild is the commercial network: a co-op of individuals and studios who take on client work under the Open Innovation banner. Revenue from guild work funds the foundation and produces the open-source tools that make the foundation credible.
The foundation gives the guild credibility. The guild gives the foundation sustainability. Neither works without the other.