The openNURBS Initiative was founded by Robert McNeel & Associates in January 2000, with the sole purpose of providing CAD, CAM, CAE, and computer graphics software users reliable methods for transferring 3-D geometry between applications.

McNeel and some 4,500 other like-minded software developers believe that the inability to reliably transfer data between applications is the primary factor stifling designers' use of 3-D.

There have been many unsuccessful initiatives to solve the problem. Examples include:

• IGES, STEP, and VDA/FS - committee-based solutions burdened with bureaucracies that have failed to keep up with rapidly changing technology.
  
• ACIS, Parasolid, SMLib, and Designbase - commercial geometry kernel providers whose strategy is to solve problems by becoming the industry standard. Unfortunately, all are excellent products with equally wide distribution.
  
• CATIA, UG, and many others - single-source suppliers of all CAD, CAM, and CAE needs. Effective but often expensive and not always the best tools.
  
• Affiliate programs - where a CAD developer encourages third parties to develop add-on functionality to their core product. Ineffective, since no single core product has yet emerged as the standard for 3-D modeling.

The openNURBS Initiative embraces the best concepts of other open software development initiatives, including:

• Source code is free and available to anyone.
  
• Wide use is encouraged.
  
• Diverse development is encouraged.

Unlike other open development initiatives:

• Commercial use of the tools is encouraged.
  
• There are no restrictions. Neither copyright nor copyleft restrictions.
  
• No contribution of effort or technology is required from the members, although it is encouraged.