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About ASK-SolutionsASK-Solutions is the public and registered trade name used by the IRADIS Foundation, a non-profit foundation registered in the Netherlands. We work on knowledge sharing, cooperation, free software, free hardware, repair, privacy, digital autonomy and practical technical education. The aim is to make technical knowledge more understandable, reusable and available to others, so people and organisations can make more independent choices.
The name IRADIS has two related meanings. The recursive version is IRADIS Research And Development Institute for Shared knowledge. The official meaning is International Research And Development Institute for Shared knowledge. We normally use the name the IRADIS Foundation without writing the acronym out, but both meanings point to the same idea: research, development and practical knowledge should be shared, reused and made useful beyond one project, one organisation or one country.
ASK-Solutions grew from long-running ethical and philosophical questions about knowledge, freedom, responsibility and sharing. What happens when people are taught only to use systems, but not to understand them? What is lost when repair knowledge, technical knowledge or practical experience is kept behind closed doors? The foundation’s roots are in the conviction that knowledge should be shared where it can help people learn, repair, build, cooperate and make more independent choices.
That conviction was not abstract. Before the foundation was formally registered, it had already been put into practice through software, hardware, web publishing, educational tools, measurement and testing systems, custom electronics, repair, communication protocols and reusable code. Simulator projects were part of that history, but they were one example among several. The broader origin lies in shared technical work, practical learning and the belief that systems should be understandable, adaptable and useful beyond one person, one project or one institution.
That conviction also becomes physical in the form of The Owl’s Nest: a name and working model for places where repair, making, shared tools, technical education and careful experimentation can happen in a public-benefit setting. The Howard Public Licence describes how the concept may be reused and adapted, and the knowledge that grows out of the work is shared through articles, software, documentation, repair notes, designs and project results.
For reading and learning, start with our articles and write-ups. They show how practical questions around repair, software, privacy, infrastructure, technology choices and public-interest issues turn into reusable knowledge. Looking for short updates? read our announcements and updates. For project-related articles, browse our project pages and progress notes. For world events, context, analysis and longer essays, read our Technology and society articles.
Many of our projects and articles start with something concrete: a repair, a tool, a configuration, a design choice or a problem that had to be understood before it could be solved. That practical work often leads to broader questions: who controls a device, who gets to repair it, how much knowledge is hidden from users, and what privacy, security and ownership mean in daily use. That is why the site is organised around our Right to Repair work, privacy and security in practice, and freedom, ownership and control.
For organisations, funders and public bodies, start with how we collaborate with organisations. For official identifiers, registrations and contact information, see our organisation details and registrations. Want to support the foundation? You can make a donation to support our work.
Looking to work together? This section is the starting point for organisations, funders, and public bodies. It explains the kinds of cooperation we engage in, what we can contribute, and how to start a first conversation with a clear first step.
Here you can find the official details that sit behind the foundation: identifiers, registrations, and the legal and policy pages we refer to elsewhere on the site. This section is meant as a practical reference.
This section collects background material about ASK-Solutions: our history, identity, and press resources. Useful if you are writing about us, introducing the foundation to others, or need a clear “who are we?” reference.
Copyright © 2026, ASK-Solutions
