This is actually an excellent point. Open-sourcing breeds innovation, because the ecosystem self-filters, meaning that shit applications, shit ideas, are naturally eliminated from contention, making way for the genuine, better ideas & apps to come to the forefront.

On the software front, Linux, Python, MatPlotLib, OpenFOAM, Calculix, FreeCAD, QBlade & XFLR-5 et al have proven themselves to be phenomenal engineering platforms, far superior to their obscenely overpriced commercial counterparts.

There are great open-source hardware platforms out there such as Arduino, ArduPilot. A group called Perrin Engineering open sourced the design initiatives for a Formula 1 car as well as an FIA LMP1 prototype, the work of which strongly informed the Vanwall LMH project.

One of the wildest things NASA released to the ecosystem is a crazy material called aerogel. A literal gas in solid form, it was originally formulated as an insulator for deep space probes, and now, independent innovators have figured out how to turn it into a flexible composite core material. We're doing some trials of the stuff in infused carbon composite layups and have gotten some good results. If the guy making it figures out how to make large sheets, cheaply (a major challenge), our aircraft project stands to lose close to 190 pounds of mass while retaining structural performance!

Also, this shit is way better an insulating material than fiberglass!

https://www.aerogel.org/