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What a (Demo) Day!

On Monday, March 3rd, there was another Demo Day: Around 110 participants came to the last Demo Day for this funding cycle and were presented with the results of the projects of the 16th round of Prototype Fund and how they got there. This time, the event kicked off with…

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Why we focus on data security and software infrastructure

Two weeks ago, we revealed that we will continue until at least 2029 and support open-source software projects on their way to prototypes in four yearly classes. As a learning research program, we have learned a lot from almost 400 projects funded over eight years and implemented a few…

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To lift off, we need a second stage!

Yesterday we made it public: We are continuing with the Prototype Fund! We have already written about the most important changes in the blog. All but one: the Second Stage funding. We will clarify the why, what and how here. Why? There is a fundamental problem in technology funding…

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The Prototype Fund is going strong!

The time has come: we are finally able to officially announce that the Prototype Fund is going to continue. After 16 rounds in eight years and 387 funded projects, we are far from done. Now it is official: We will continue until at least until 2029! As a learning…

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How to start prototyping – evaluation of funding round 12

In order to learn what makes a project successful at the Prototype Fund and what type of funding supports them best, we regularly talk to our grantees. This time, the aim was to find out how they developed their project ideas before applying and how they implemented them during the…

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Security vs Usability: A Fake Dilemma

Security and Usability is often labeled as a contradiction. Marta, whose working on Qubes OS Device Management, shows why this isn't the case and one depends on the other.

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Public Interest Podcast – Open Source und Nachhaltigkeit, Folge 5

In der fünften Folge unserer Staffel zum Thema Open Source und Nachhaltigkeit sprechen wir mit Friederike Hildebrandt vom Bund für Umwelt und Naturschutz Deutschland, einem der größten Umweltverbände in Deutschland. Ähnlich wie die OKF arbeitet der BUND viel mit ehrenamtlich Aktiven zusammen und wird von vielen Freiwilligen im Einsatz für…

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Behind the scenes – an interview with our coaching partner Simply Secure

Who does what at Prototype Fund? This is not always easy for outsiders to understand. That’s why we would like to shed some light on this! The Prototype Fund team, which is employed by the Open Knowledge Foundation Germany, is supported in its work by many other people who work…

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Open Source Investigation against human rights violations

Hadi al-Khatib is Executive Director of the non-profit organization Mnemonic and founder of the Syrian Archive. Both projects focus on Open Source Investigation – a methodology that is becoming more and more widely spread. We talked to Hadi about his work, the advantages of Open Source Investigation and its development…

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Civic Tech: Insight for all

Noa Tamir and Tobias Sterbak are developing Law in Progress in the 10th round of the Prototype Fund. We asked them how they came up with it, why trial and error is crucial in civic tech, and what Germany can learn from this mentality.   What is Law in…