New+Type+of+Company+071512

I think it would be interesting if a company made a profit from selling goods and services, and then used some of this profit to produce or discover valuable information such as inventions or facts about nature. However, instead of patenting or keeping this information secret, the company would make this completely open to everyone even if the information could potentially lead to more competition from rivals for the company. The company would do this because would allow for the maximum amount of prosperity to occur since the most people would have access to potentially valuable information. The company would also do this because little to no effort is required to share and replicate the information to whoever wanted it whereas this is not true of the goods and services.

Essentially this idea just combines two concepts that already exist. The idea combines an open source information project with a for profit open source hardware project. Both of these things currently exist, but I am not currently aware of a company that puts the two together.

Arduino is an example of a for profit open source hardware project: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/startups/magazine/16-11/ff_openmanufacturing?currentPage=all

also see: Jack's Idea of an Economy