TED Talk Senior Fellow to Present for Campus Sustainability Day

Marcin Jakubowski, TED Talk Senior Fellow, will present his lecture “Towards the Open Source Economy” at 4 p.m. Oct. 22 in Baldwin Hall Room 176. The event is sponsored by the President’s Sustainability Committee and Global Issues in honor of National Campus Sustainability Day.


Jakubowski is the founder of Open Source Ecology, an open collaborative of engineers, producers and builders developing the Global Village Construction Set (GVCS). The GVCS is a set of the 50 most important machines it takes for modern life to exist, including everything from a tractor, to an oven, to a circuit maker. Jakubowski is producing open source blueprints so that anyone can build and maintain machines at a fraction of what it costs today. His goal is to create a life size LEGO set of powerful, self-replicating production tools that can decentralize production to build modern prosperity in local economies. He believes that true freedom starts with peoples’ individual ability to use natural resources to free themselves from material constraints, unleashing human potential.

Open Source Ecology was founded in 2003 in order to make closed-loop manufacturing a reality. The mission of Open Source Ecology is to create a collaborative economic platform that optimizes development, production and distribution to accelerate innovation to unprecedented levels. These ideas are being tested at the Factor e Farm (e as in the mathematical constant) in rural Missouri.

Jakubowski is recognized on the Enrich List and gained the distinctions of being a 2012 TED Senior Fellow, a 2013 Shuttleworth Foundation Fellow and a 2013 White House Champion of Change. The Global Village Construction Set was recognized in Time Magazine’s "Best Invention of the Year 2012." 

See Jakubowski's TED Talk here.