Hardware Freedom Day Date in the current year: April 20, 2024

Open-source hardware, also known as open hardware, is hardware designed and offered by the open-design movement. The term “open design” refers to the development of software and hardware through use of publicly shared information on design.

The history of open-source hardware dates back to 1997, when Bruce Perens co-founded Software in the Public Interest, a non-profit organization intended to aid other organizations in creating and distributing free/open-source software and hardware.

To allow hardware manufacturers to certify their products as open and to create an alternative platform to proprietary computer systems, Perens launched the Open Hardware Certification Program and the Open Hardware Specification Project. By the mid-2000s, a number of open-source hardware companies and projects emerged, including Adafruit, Arduino, FreeIO, OpenCores, RepRap, and SparkFun Electronics.

The term “hardware” in open-source hardware originally referred to the electronic hardware on which the software runs. However, these days it covers a wide range of open-source tangible products, including medical equipment, vehicles, machine tools, and other hardware in its broad sense of “physical product”.

Open-source hardware projects use a number of licenses, such as Balloon Open Hardware License, the CERN Open Hardware License, Hardware Design Public License, the Solderpad License, the TAPR Open Hardware License, and many others. Seven licenses are specifically recommended by the Open Source Hardware Association due to being compliant with the Open-Source Hardware Definition created in 2010.

Hardware Freedom Day was conceived by Digital Freedom Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing access to knowledge via technology. The observance was initiated in 2012, and the first celebration was held on April 20, 2013. The date of Hardware Freedom Day changed several times over the next few years. It was observed on March 15 in 2014, on January 17 in 2015, on April 9, and on April 15 in 2017. In recent years it has been celebrated on the third Saturday of April.

Hardware Freedom Day focuses on educating a wide audience about the benefits of using open hardware and encouraging participation in open hardware initiatives. Local HFD events are held by volunteer teams from all over the world.

At a global level, HFD is coordinated by Digital Freedom Foundation that provides support and collaboration, but local volunteers are free to organize whichever events and activities they want and there is no rigid schedule to follow. Some common activities include introductions and demonstrations of new projects, talks, workshops, and hackathons.

Other observances supported by Digital Freedom Foundation and the international community include Software Freedom Day, Education Freedom Day, and Document Freedom Day.