CERN’s President of Council writes in his message in the CERN Annual Report 2011:
“The launch of the Open Hardware Initiative follows other ‘open innovations’, such as the famous example of the web and open access in publishing.”

In addition, the section Making an impact of CERN’s Annual Report reads:
“In 2009, in the spirit of open science, electronics designers working in experimental-physics laboratories set up the Open Hardware Repository. The aim — to exchange knowledge across a wide community. Now the hardware design for more than 40 projects can be shared using the CERN Open Hardware Licence, published in 2011. The licence manages intellectual property by governing the use, copying, modification and distribution of hardware design documentation, and the manufacture and distribution of products.”