Abstract
The sustainability of the quality and rate of the design process has always posed challenges.
Initial open design concepts evolved from the need for an even faster rapid product
development process and the desire to have co-creative platforms. Innovative open design
platforms and toolkits ensure a continuous interchanging of knowledge between many and
diverse stakeholders from a community with a common vision. Companies continuously
research social strategies to get volunteers’ attention and keep their interest to contribute
to the company’s objectives. Doing this can create significant value for the company’s
customers and shareholders. Therefore, the objective of this research study was to
understand the main reasons for contributing to these open design platforms. Both
community- and company driven open design platforms were studied and; the benefits and
challenges for utilising these platforms discussed. As a result boundary conditions were
identified to exploit, without compromising the constraints of current design systems. Plans
for further investigations are also given.