Box 1. Open source and the bottom line

Companies in the embedded Linux industry use many business strategies to capture value. Synthetic biology companies can exploit most of them:

Open parts, patented products. Software vendors often share basic parts and modules, while protecting the products made from them. Synthetic biology companies could similarly share parts while patenting completed organisms. Companies that create organisms for individual clients may not need patent protection at all.

Shared development. Software vendors routinely share code, hoping that others will update it, identify and fix bugs, or write extensions. Synthetic biology companies could similarly learn from users and even competitors.

Establishing a user base. Software vendors rely on open source to attract users. Synthetic biology companies similarly want to see their parts used as early and as often as possible.

Other strategies. Software vendors participate in open source to demonstrate technical prowess to would-be clients, learn new product ideas, demonstrate social responsibility, and hire talented programmers. Similar motives should also operate in synthetic biology.

Synthetic biology contains almost all of the same ingredients that make embedded Linux successful. First, synthetic biology's parts approach emphasizes strong modularity. This allows the work of creating a parts library to be spread over many companies. It also makes it possible for companies to earn profits by patenting some parts while making others openly available. Second, we expect companies to have fairly idiosyncratic parts needs. This means that they cannot simply 'free ride' by waiting for others to make what they need. It also suggests that companies can often share parts without losing their technological 'edge' to competitors. Third, different companies will have different expertise. This suggests that community-based libraries will often outperform company ones. Finally, the synthetic biology market will probably include large numbers of small, idiosyncratic customers. This makes patent licensing less lucrative and, by comparison, openness more attractive.