Develop a pattern to crowd fund class projects. Funders buy shares in the prototypes developed for the class. Create markets where funders bid for production from small prototype batches and artifacts of the creative process as they become available. This can supliment a more typical crowd funding where the investment buys a commitment to an end product (say a copy of a music production). Maybe the invention team commits to some number of prototypes to be allocated to investors.

This is a Commons for Production for turning DIY projects into production services. The basic idea is to provide the resources for experimentation and prototype work using products and components that are readily available. Many of the commons based resources will be crowdsourced knowledge about the best resources available whether that is knowledge of how to do things or the best suppliers of component technologies (e.g. low cost, high quality solar cells, solar heat collector tubes, batteries, LEDs, etc.). 

What will make the difference between good systems and great systems is how much we are able to enhance resilience in the systems we design and build. We hear a lot of talk about smart grids and smart homes, but we don't think about the best ways to design and build them so they are not vulnerable to hacks and abuse. While these resources will be a lot about systems and components that are not that complex or mysterious, the program of bits and things and projects and resources related to digital control systems will be just as important as the other technologies.

The best way to handle information about marketplaces and suppliers may be to create a colony on WikiRate of members from our commons who focus on particular products and markets of interest to them. Our more critical resources will need us to develop our own systems that are likely to be Decko based like WikiRate. We will want to develop the code and support systems to defend the infrastructure we design and build from malware and malicious hacking. Of course this will just be a component of the overall systems functions. The commons will fund and develop advanced control systems that include both open hardware and software. This is not to ignore the mechanical and electrical system designs that we accumulate in our commons.

As a general contractor I want a networked resource who know how to build, install and maintain the systems and services of the 21st century and beyond. In my father's generation you could see how almost all of the technology worked with the naked eye, and you could take it apart and put it back together better with simple tools and ones you could invent yourself. We want a commons to hold the knowledge base, to develop new shared knowledge and systems  designs and to create and maintain marketplaces for the products and services related to all this knowledge. Who will service your electric car? The dealer, sure, but the success of products like the automobile depends on the aftermarkets of products and services around them. I'd say it is a clear indication of success and maturity that they develop markets. This commons is all about catalyzing this kind of market and taking advantable of the passion of fanatic user communities.

As someone who enjoys tinkering and customizing my things and spaces, I want to be able to get professional knowledge and advice when I'm building and tinkering or to be able to call in some pros for bigger projects. As an expert in systems and ecological design, I want to contribute to the commons and get a bit of income from that work. I know it is speculative so maybe this is all styled as gift economy work and income could come from gifts and bounties that acknowledge my contributions.