EasyEDA Spark 2026: The $85,000 Global Open-Source Hardware Design Competition
The Manufacturing Stack Is Free — You Just Bring the Design
Most hardware competitions offer a cash prize. A few offer free PCB fabrication. EasyEDA Spark 2026 offers something qualitatively different: the entire manufacturing stack, for free, with no layer limits, no size limits, and no submission caps on high-quality projects.
We're talking about:
- Free PCB/FPC fabrication — up to 32 layers, 400×500mm boards, with no restrictions within JLCPCB's manufacturing capabilities
- Free SMT/PCBA assembly — solder paste, pick-and-place, reflow, all sponsored
- Free 3D printing, CNC machining, and injection molding — enclosures, mechanical parts, jigs
- Free multi-color silkscreen PCB — because your board should look as good as it functions
- $85,000 total prize pool for the best open-source hardware projects
- $100 JLCPCB coupon for every participant who registers
Registration is open from January 1 through November 30, 2026. That's 11 months to conceive, design, fabricate, test, document, and submit.
What EasyEDA Spark Actually Sponsors
The material sponsorship covers approximately 80% of manufacturing and shipping costs (import/export duties and local taxes are the participant's responsibility). The key services:
PCB/FPC Fabrication — No Layer Limits
This is the headline feature. JLCPCB's standard manufacturing process supports up to 32 layers and board dimensions up to 400×500mm. You can design a high-density server backplane, an RF phased array with complex impedance control, or a flexible wearable PCB — all within the sponsored manufacturing window.
For context: a 16-layer impedance-controlled PCB with ENIG finish typically costs 200–400 in prototype quantities. A 32-layer board pushes 1,000+. Spark covers this for accepted projects.
SMT/PCBA Assembly
Beyond bare boards, Spark sponsors the full SMT assembly process: solder paste stencil, pick-and-place, reflow soldering. If your BOM uses components from LCSC (JLCPCB's sister company for component distribution), the assembly pipeline is integrated — design in EasyEDA, BOM through LCSC, fabrication and assembly at JLCPCB, all from one workflow.
3D Printing / CNC / Injection Molding
JLCPCB's manufacturing ecosystem extends beyond PCBs. Through JLC3DP, JLCCNC, and JLCMC, Spark participants can access:
- SLA/SLS 3D printing — enclosures, brackets, mechanism housings
- CNC machining — aluminum, brass, steel, and plastic parts
- Injection molding — for projects scaling beyond prototypes
The coupons earned through Spark can be used across any of these services.
Multi-Color Silkscreen
Color silkscreen on PCBs is not just cosmetic. It's functional — color-coded connector zones, annotated test points, visually distinct power domains. JLCPCB's multi-color silkscreen process supports this, and Spark sponsors it.
Prize Structure
The $85,000 total prize pool is distributed across multiple categories and tiers. Key awards include:
Award · Prize
Grand Prize · Top cash award + JLC Factory Tour
Category Winners · Cash prizes across multiple technical categories
Best Documentation · Recognition for well-documented open-source projects
Most Innovative · For unconventional or breakthrough designs
Community Choice · Voted by the OSHWLab community
Spark Ambassador Awards · For participants who bring others into the program
Additionally, every participant who registers receives a 100 JLCPCB coupon, and there's a 50 referral bonus — when someone registers through your link and submits a project, both of you get $50 in JLCPCB credit.
Referral Program: Build Together, Earn Together
The Spark referral system is straightforward:
- Register and get your referral link
- Share it with other hardware engineers, makers, and students
- When someone registers through your link and submits a project, you each receive a $50 JLCPCB coupon
This is a genuine mutual-benefit system — the referrer and the referred both get manufacturing budget. If you're building a team project, having each team member sign up through a shared referral link can stack significant JLCPCB credit.
Register through this link and we both get $50 in JLCPCB credit: oshwlab.com/activities/easyeda-spark-2026?inviter=abelcheruvathoor
Who Should Participate
EasyEDA Spark is broadly scoped. The official call is for "electronics enthusiasts" and "open-source hardware designers." In practice, this covers:
- Embedded systems engineers — MCU/FPGA boards, IoT devices, sensor nodes
- Power electronics designers — DC-DC converters, motor controllers, battery management
- RF/wireless engineers — antenna designs, SDR frontends, BLE/WiFi/LoRa modules
- Robotics and mechatronics — motor drivers, sensor fusion boards, actuator controllers
- Test and measurement — oscilloscope frontends, logic analyzers, waveform generators
- Audio and DSP — DAC/ADC boards, class-D amplifiers, DSP effects processors
- Students and hobbyists — learning PCB design, building capstone projects, exploring electronics
The key requirements:
- Design in EasyEDA (free, browser-based EDA tool — or use the desktop client)
- Open-source your design on OSHWLab (EasyEDA's open-source hardware platform)
- Document your project — schematics, PCB layout, BOM, firmware (if applicable), build instructions
The Open-Source Hardware Philosophy
Spark is fundamentally an open-source hardware program. The expectation is that designs are publicly shared, documented, and reusable. This aligns with the broader open-source hardware movement — designs that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell.
For participants, this means:
- Your design becomes part of a public knowledge base
- Others can learn from, fork, and improve your work
- Your project gains visibility in the OSHWLab community
- You contribute to the collective advancement of hardware engineering
For FabFlow users building manufacturing businesses, open-source hardware is also a commercial strategy — releasing reference designs, building community credibility, and driving demand for your fabrication services.
Timeline
Phase · Dates
Registration Opens · January 1, 2026
Project Submission Window · Ongoing — submit anytime during registration period
Registration Closes · November 30, 2026
Judging Period · December 2026
Winners Announced · Late December 2026 / January 2027
Spark Conference · TBA — in-person event for winners and ambassadors
How to Enter
- Go to oshwlab.com/activities/easyeda-spark-2026
- Click Sign Up and create your OSHWLab account (or log in if you have one)
- Design your project in EasyEDA (Pro Edition recommended — free, full-featured)
- Submit your project to OSHWLab with complete documentation
- Apply for material sponsorship through the Spark program
- Receive your manufacturing coupons and place your orders at JLCPCB
What Makes Spark Different from Other Hardware Competitions
Most hardware competitions (Hackaday Prize, element14 Design Challenges, etc.) offer cash prizes but leave you to fund your own prototyping. Spark inverts this: the prototyping IS the prize. You get your PCB fabricated, assembled, and enclosed BEFORE you even hear about the $85,000 pool. This means:
- Your project isn't a PDF — it's a physical, tested, working prototype
- The barrier between "idea" and "manufactured board" is effectively zero for accepted projects
- You iterate on real hardware, not simulations
- Your submission includes actual test data, oscilloscope traces, and thermal images — not just renders
For FabFlow's community of hardware builders, manufacturers, and fabricators, this is the most practical competition in the calendar. Free manufacturing beats any theoretical prize.
Register here and we both get $50 in JLCPCB credit when you submit a project: 🔗 oshwlab.com/activities/easyeda-spark-2026?inviter=abelcheruvathoor