# Background and motivation
## Local needs at TU Delft and beyond
We have slowly build a community at TU Delft interested in open science and open hardware. But we have also found that other universities in the Netherlands and Europe are also doing the same. These groups are pioneers in their own institutions, but together can become very influencing and impactful. 

We have found that the lessons and workshops are not Delft specific. This is why we have started open hardware academy!

## 1st hand Inspiration and experience
We are inspired by a whole range of initiatives and ideas. Some from first hand experiences which includes:
- Participating in Mozilla Open leadership programmes in mentee and mentorship roles.
- Initiating the [Open Hardware leaders programm](https://openhardware4.me) in collaboration with Mozilla.
- Participating as trainers and helpers in [software carpentries](https://software-carpentry.org/).
- Particiption as helpers in [code refineries](https://coderefinery.org/)
- [Plastic scanner project](https://plasticscanner.com/)
- [Precious plastics](https://preciousplastic.com/)
- [Open source ecology](https://www.opensourceecology.org/)
- [Delft Open Hardware community](https://delftopenhardware.nl/README.html) 

## Other important inspirations
- [The hardware academy](https://thehardwareacademy.com/)
- [Gathering for Open Science Hardware](https://openhardware.science/)
- [Open Source Appropriate Technology](https://www.appropedia.org/Open_Source_Appropriate_Technology_-_Joshua_Pearce)
- [Low tech magazine](https://www.lowtechmagazine.com/)
- [Peer to Peer foundation](https://p2pfoundation.net/)