Every experimental scientist depends on hardware. Microscopes, sensors, reactors, imaging rigs, the custom measurement setups that make an experiment possible. Increasingly, researchers do not just buy this equipment, they build it, and they share the designs openly so others can build it too. Open-source hardware has become one of the five pillars of Open Science in the UNESCO recommendations, and for good reason: it makes research cheaper, more reproducible, and more accessible.
There is just one problem. In the Netherlands, the open-hardware landscape is a scattering of islands. Talented groups at different universities design excellent instruments, document them, and move on, often without knowing that a neighbouring lab solved the same problem last year. The result is duplicated effort, reinvented wheels, and a lot of brilliant work that stays invisible. That fragmentation slows science down and quietly wastes research money.
OSHNED, the Open-source Hardware Infrastructure for The Netherlands, exists to fix that. It is a four-year project funded under Open Science NL, led by Prof. dr. ir. Isabelle Reymen at TU Eindhoven, and it brings together TU/e, Utrecht University, Wageningen University and Research, Radboud UMC, and TU Delft, with support from the Netherlands eScience Center, 4TU.ResearchData, and VU Amsterdam. The goal is simple to state and ambitious to deliver: connect the independent open-hardware islands into one robust national infrastructure.
How it works: four pillars
OSHNED rests on four connected pillars.
The first is a network of hardware hubs. Each participating university hosts a Research Hardware Engineer, embedded in its local prototyping facility. These engineers are the catalysts of the whole project. They support researchers and students on the ground, help develop and document designs, and link their lab into the national network so expertise flows both ways.
The second is a central repository. Rather than build something from scratch, OSHNED expands the existing Research Software Directory (RSD) developed by the eScience Center, tailoring it to host hardware designs, blueprints, and documentation. Entries are sorted into two tiers: designs still under development, and designs that are OSHNED certified, meaning they have been tested and properly documented by the engineers. Think of it as one searchable, trustworthy home for Dutch open hardware.
The third is training and capacity building, drawing on the proven Open Hardware Academy model. OSHNED will run training programmes for researchers and students, work to embed open hardware in academic curricula, and organise community events and hackathons. The aim is to make designing and sharing open hardware a normal, recognised part of research life.
The fourth is curation. Universities are full of promising designs that never travel beyond the project that created them. OSHNED will run systematic sweeps across the participating institutions to find these hidden gems, document them to a common standard, and add them to the national repository, turning isolated effort into shared infrastructure.
How it unfolds: three phases
The project runs over 48 months in three phases. Phase 1, Groundwork (the first year), is about hiring the Research Hardware Engineers and community manager, customising the RSD repository, establishing the Supervisory Board, and starting outreach and the first trainings. Phase 2, Implementation and expansion (months 12 to 36), is where the network comes alive: engineers are deployed, the repository fills up, training rolls out, curation sweeps begin, and OSHNED reaches beyond the founding universities toward national coverage. Phase 3, Sustainability and refinement (months 36 to 48), focuses on making OSHNED last, with a long-term funding strategy, refined training, an expanded repository, and a thorough impact assessment.
Why it matters for researchers
For anyone who works with instruments, the payoff is practical. Less time rebuilding what already exists. Lower costs, because open designs can be made for a fraction of the price of proprietary equipment. Better reproducibility, because a documented, shareable instrument lets others verify and extend your results. And easier access for teaching and exploration, since students can learn on hardware they are free to study, modify, and rebuild.
There is a bigger picture too. By standardising and sharing designs early, OSHNED supports genuine team science and frees up money that would otherwise be spent on duplicated or proprietary equipment, money that can flow back into research itself. It also connects the Netherlands to the wider movement, complementing European infrastructures and learning from initiatives like CERN's Open Science programme and global communities such as OSHWA.
Get in touch
OSHNED is being built in the open, by and for the research community. Access to the online platform and documentation will always be free. If you work with research hardware, develop your own instruments, or simply want to follow along as the network takes shape, this is the moment to pay attention. The islands are about to be connected, and there is room for everyone who wants to help draw the map.
Sign up for the monthly newsletter to follow along.