Review Embedded Talk “Open Source Hardware – Multiple Incentives, multiple Pitfalls”

Symbolic picture for the article. The link opens the image in a large view. — Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Wehn am Ende seiner Keynote im Gespräch mit ESI-Sprecher Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Teich. (Foto: FAU / Andreas Bininida)

26. March 2025

On Friday, March 21, 2025, the 18th Embedded Talk took place at FAU in Erlangen. The topic of this event, which was held in English for the first time, was “Open Source Hardware – Multiple Incentives, multiple Pitfalls”. Around 70 participants took the opportunity to discuss current research and developments in this field.

After a welcome by ESI speaker Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jürgen Teich (FAU), Prof. Dr. Stefan Wallentowitz (Munich University of Applied Sciences) started with his keynote speech on “Open Source Chip Design: Key Ingredient for Europe’s Chip Ambitions”. Prof. Dr.-Ing. Norbert Wehn (Microelectronic Systems Design Research Group, RPTU Kaiserslautern-Landau) then addressed Open Source in Hardware Design – Opportunities, Challenges and Examples in his keynote speech. The keynote part of the event was rounded off by the presentation “Why contribute to Open Source? – Opportunities and Fallacies from an Industrial Perspective” by Dr. Christian Höppler (Senior Expert Open Source, Robert Bosch GmbH), who explained the motivation but also the pitfalls for corporate involvement in the open source sector. The discussion then continued in the poster session, in which 17 exhibitors, mostly from the DE:Sign funding initiative, reported on their projects.

The successful event also provided important networking opportunities for doctoral students from FAU ESI in particular.