Who we are
Cottage Labs is a collective of individuals with a range of specialist skills ranging from software development, technical implementation and deployment in a variety of languages and environments to requirements gathering and analysis, reporting, copywriting and editing. We are also highly experienced in managing and running projects from inception through to delivery.
Many of our partners and associates come from a background in the Further and Higher Education sector, which has enabled us to build strong connections with many institutions and organisations; this has provided us with a clear insight into their requirements, helping us to view projects from the perspective of the sector.
What we do
At Cottage Labs, we understand that working out how to take advantage of technology and adapting your processes to suit is not always easy. Planning and managing a software development project takes effort and resource, both of which are precious commodities within institutions. As a collective, we have access to a variety of skills and experience, which means that we are able to offer as much or as little help as you require; we can manage the whole project for you, help with proposals and grant funding applications, or simply take care of the technical development.
Project partners
Our experience within HE has provided us with a clear understanding of the way the sector works, particularly when it comes to grant funding applications. We regularly work in partnership with institutions both in the UK and internationally, bringing our wide range of skills and bid preparation experience to the proposal process.
If you have a proposal that you think we may be able to help you with, we would be happy to chat with you about your ideas and how we might be able to help you, free of charge. .
About Open Source
A piece of software is open source if it is free to use, modify and share. At Cottage Labs we are passionate about open source and the many benefits that it can bring to the HE sector and beyond. Software creation takes time and skill, but software replication is virtually free. This is how we can make our software open source and how we can share completed output with the community. You only have to buy our time; the product belongs to your community.
One of the perceived benefits of 'traditional' software licensing is security. However, whereas purchasing an 'off the shelf' licensed product may seem like the safest option, the collaborative nature of open source allows you to engage with a community of experts who can make, find and share the tools you need, and pick up on issues to improve the quality of the end product.
Open source software is also more widely used than you might think: many of the critical networks of modern life are built on open source software; including mobile phone networks, television networks and the internet. Large companies regularly use open source software to their advantage, such as Mozilla Firefox, Wikipedia, Ubuntu and many more. Our group of developers can offer support and advice to help you find the right open source solution for your organisation.