8-Bit Lab · Open Source Student Programme
Your project.
Built in the open.
Have a hardware idea your company would like to develop as an open-source project? Tell us what you want to build, who it helps and the hardware budget you can provide.
Open by design
The project work is released under the MIT licence. Expect public source files, documentation and shared learning, with the applicable copyright and licence notices retained.
Freedom to share
All participating students have the right to share their progress, designs, results and contributions in public repositories, portfolios, presentations and updates.
Fund the hardware
No payment is charged for engineering work. Your company covers agreed hardware and prototype costs, such as components, PCBs, assembly, enclosures and shipping.
Is your project a good fit?
- A clear problem, practical learning opportunities and a realistic prototype scope.
- Permission to publish the project work under the MIT licence. Identify any third-party material and its existing licence.
- Full freedom for participating students to share progress. Please do not submit confidential information or require an NDA that prevents open collaboration.
- A named company contact and an available hardware budget. Costs and purchases must be agreed before anything is ordered.
Participation is voluntary and engineering work is unpaid. Students choose which projects they want to join. Applying does not guarantee admission to the project pool, student selection, completion, a fixed deadline or a production-ready product.
From proposal to student project
- Send your proposal. Describe the problem, requirements, existing work, timeframe and hardware budget. You may attach a PDF brief of up to 5 MB.
- Verify your email. Open the link sent from info@8bitlab.de within 48 hours. Check your spam folder. Your application is forwarded to info@8bitlab.de for review after verification.
- Receive an acknowledgement. We confirm that your verified project application has been received.
- Review and student choice. We will contact you if your project is admitted to the pool from which students can choose. Pool admission does not mean a student has selected it.
If you receive no decision within six weeks of verifying your email, your application will be deleted. You are welcome to apply again.
Application privacy
8-Bit Lab Engineering uses your contact details, project proposal, budget and optional brief to verify your email, assess the proposal and reply to you. Contact details and the submitted brief are for the review team; they are not automatically published. If the project is accepted, we agree what project information will enter the public student pool. Open-source project work and student progress may then be shared publicly.
The website temporarily stores your application for email verification. Unconfirmed records are scheduled for deletion after 3 days; website verification records are scheduled for deletion after 30 days. Verification records can include timestamps and IP addresses. Scheduled cleanup runs through website maintenance. Website and email providers process the data needed to operate these services.
The six-week review policy also applies to application copies held by the review team. To correct or withdraw an application, or request deletion, email info@8bitlab.de. Email verification checks access to the email address; it does not verify a company’s identity or guarantee acceptance.
Apply with a Project
Fields marked * and all agreement checkboxes are required. Please share only material you are entitled to disclose.
