(Image: Illustration of a futuristic aircraft on a landing pad by David Revoy. Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.)
The Philosophy Behind Public Invention
“Even from an early age, I believed that inventing things is one of the best ways you can help other people.” - Robert L. Read
Beginning in 2015 as a team in an Austin Hackathon, Public Invention has grown into a 501(c)(3) nonprofit dedicated to supporting the public good through open-source technology. It provided open-source designs for ventilators and spirometers to counteract the medical device shortage during the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. As of 2026, it is home to over thirty inventors, eight active engineering project teams, and over thirty projects in total. It has collaborated with fellow nonprofits including GreenLathe Solarpunk Science Collective, Glia, Global Open Source Quality Assurance (GOSQAS), Open Source Medical Supplies (OSMS), NASA, Helpful Engineering, and the Internet of Production Alliance.
Beyond these specific accomplishments, Public Invention has a larger mission to change the world of tech and provide more opportunities for technologists to join the movement of humanitarian engineering. Additionally, the nonprofit supports the wider vision of optimistic technology and a framework based on collaboration over competition. Public Invention Founder, Robert Read shared his insights on the origin of these principles, how the organization practices them, and his hopes for their wider societal impact.
The Vision for Humanitarian Tech
Optimistic Sci-Fi and Buckminster Fuller
Though the organization itself is relatively young, the philosophy behind Public Invention is much older. The original seeds of its inspiration were sown during Read’s childhood and college days, when the classic sci-fi show Star Trek and futurists like Buckminster Fuller provided an optimistic outlook on the possible use of technology to support humanity at large.
“I think it was from watching science fiction TV shows that I knew from a very young age I wanted to be a physicist. I wanted to be a scientist,” Read said while describing his initial interest in science and technology. “Even from an early age, I believed that inventing things is one of the best ways you can help other people.”
(Image: Photo by Steve Yelvington Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.)
These views solidified during Read’s first year of college. As a freshman, another student in his dorm lent him a book called Critical Path by Buckminster Fuller that would change his outlook on technology forever. Inventor of the geodesic dome, Fuller was a futurist who believed that technology could produce more with less, and that knowledge and innovation would thrive in a cooperative environment rather than a competitive one.
“[Fuller] expressed a philosophy which has also been expressed by Benjamin Franklin and Nikola Tesla and Jonas Salk and Richard Stallman,” Read said, “that knowledge should be shared. We're living in a cooperative world, and it makes no sense for people to compete against each other because the world is so rich with things you can do that no one else is doing.”
Public Invention
"At Public Invention, we mean real invention. Things that are new, have never existed under the sun before." - Robert L. Read
These original seeds bore fruit in 2015, when Read began Public Invention based on the ideals of the free sharing of knowledge and the possibility of building a better future through technology. Through the organization, he hopes to empower the public through sharing new inventions without legal obstacles to their access. Read also implemented key principles that would support these ideals in practice, including “working in the light” and focusing on projects that used unique, new technology.
Sharing Processes and Failures
Public Invention’s slogan is to “Invent in the public, for the Public.” This sentiment highlights the importance of a foundational principle for open-source technology; that is, working in the light. In practice, this principle is a proponent of not only sharing the final results of a completed project, but also the day-by-day process of creation. This includes dead ends, failed tests, and messy prototypes. Read expounded on this principle succinctly.
“By opening up the process of invention itself, [including] both the creative process of invention where you have a flash of insight and create something that's completely novel and never created before, and also all of the engineering and testing and documentation that goes behind it,” Read explained, “we're making it easier for people to understand and be a part of that process.”
Through this strategy, fellow inventors traveling a similar path will learn from the mistakes of those who came before them. It will ensure that they can reproduce the final results without falling into the same pitfalls, saving time and resources in the long run.
Not Patenting Inventions
Public Invention’s name hints at a second foundational principle. The nonprofit focuses on innovative engineering that creates new, never-to-be patented devices. Although a few projects are based on prior technology to meet specific humanitarian needs, such as the PolyVent Ventilator, most projects are unique inventions that the world has never seen before.
“At Public Invention, we mean real invention. Things that are new, have never existed under the sun before, and would be patentable if we chose to patent it,” Read said. “Things like our ferrofluid passive check valve are really, truly novel inventions that have never existed before.”
This principle supports the creation of new technology that is unpatented, which creates the largest positive impact for the technological community. By keeping these inventions open source, Public Invention ensures that the industry as a whole grows its knowledge base, supporting future innovative efforts.
Wider Societal Impact
Read and the Public Invention community of inventors has worked diligently to promote the ideals espoused by technological optimists such as Buckminster Fuller and Nikola Tesla through the organization’s direct work. Like them, the nonprofit aims to pioneer a wider impact on society not just through its specific projects, but also through paving the way for other grassroots open-source technology groups.
The World of Innovative Flexibility and Nonprofits for Public Good
Read aims for Public Invention and similar organizations to provide those who wish to innovate an alternative route. It provides opportunities for technologists with diverse skillsets and innovative ideas to bring their projects to life without having to enter the usual paths of either academia or for-profit business.
“In the past, there have been two great engines of innovation in the American system: universities and for-profit firms like Google, Microsoft, IBM, SpaceX, etc. What we'd like to do is to say there's a third way, which you could think of as the open-source movement,” Read said. “Come to the third engine, which is simply people doing things for free without getting paid in order to help their fellow brothers and sisters across the globe.”
“Together, humanity can move towards an idea where, instead of working essentially 99% for-profit, we could work 50% for profit and 50% for the wellbeing of our fellow creatures.” - Robert L. Read
Although Read noted the need for each category of institution, he looked forward to a world that would provide individuals more flexibility to move between fields and diversify the use of their working hours. This would be possible by de-emphasizing competition and increasing collaboration between nonprofit and for-profit firms.
“The world needs for-profit businesses. I do not believe you can make physical objects, and you certainly can't make physical medical devices, in a nonprofit way. But the designs of those devices can easily be made by nonprofit firms,” Read said. “Together, humanity can move towards an idea where, instead of working essentially 99% for-profit, we could work 50% for profit and 50% for the wellbeing of our fellow creatures.”
Public Invention was founded on the optimistic ideals of inventors of the past, who promoted cooperative technological development as a way to serve the world and humanity at large. Through working openly in the light and sharing innovative inventions with those in industry, academia, and beyond, the organization supports the creation of a bright future of open collaboration, flexible working conditions, and the responsible use of technology for the common good. Public Invention continues to promote this possible future through its project teams, events, and innovations, and will continue to spread the word about the importance of open-source engineering and innovation.