Working Paper · The Claims Register (Public Edition)
Status: Living transparency instrument — published exactly as the internal register stands, including rejected and unproven claims.
Synthesized: 2026-06-12, from the internal claims register. Last internal update reflected here in full.
Companion to: Field Report 001's correction discipline ("If Buffalo is not the answer, the file gets corrected in public").
1. Why publish this
A protocol that promises evidence-first behaviour has to expose its own claim hygiene. This register tracks every load-bearing claim in the Clark project and labels each one honestly:
- Safe to Use — supported strongly enough for current external use.
- Needs Validation — promising but not yet strong enough; using it externally would be borrowing against work not done.
- Rejected — not supported, or intentionally removed from the plan. Kept visible so the record shows what was walked back.
Publishing the Rejected and Needs Validation rows is the point. Anyone can publish their wins.
2. A note on the reframe
The register predates the protocol framing of Field Report 001 in one place: C-001 describes Clark as "a Delaware-incorporated platform company." That language belongs to the earlier venture-company framing (Clark 1.0). The current public position is jurisdiction-agnostic — Clark is a protocol that incorporates where its first node needs it to. C-001 is retained below unaltered, flagged here, and queued for re-statement: the register's own rule is that corrections happen in public, not by silent editing.
3. The register
Identity and model
| ID | Claim | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C-001 | CLARK is a Delaware-incorporated platform company coordinating a network of regional electronics assembly nodes. | Safe to Use (flagged — see §2; pre-dates protocol framing) |
| C-002 | CLARK combines assembly, firmware optimization, and IPC-certified training in one coordinated model. | Safe to Use |
| C-003 | No identified competitor occupies the same intersection as CLARK. | Needs Validation — analog map incomplete; do not use externally |
| C-011 | MacroFab is a distributed manufacturing-platform analog; STI Electronics the closest manufacturing-plus-training analog; EPTAC a training analog; Conclusive Engineering a firmware analog. | Safe to Use |
Corridor and geography
| ID | Claim | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C-004 | Hamilton–Buffalo is the best initial binational corridor. | Needs Validation — never compared rigorously against alternatives |
| C-012 | Hamilton–Buffalo is credible as a working corridor, but not yet proven superior to alternatives. | Safe to Use — this is the correct form of the corridor claim |
| C-006 | Buffalo has meaningful incentive and operating advantages for the American anchor node. | Needs Validation — keep only hydropower and regional-support elements |
| C-007 | Dunkirk should be part of the active operating footprint. | Rejected — a later logistics option at most |
| C-008 | Workforce housing should be part of CLARK's long-term strategy. | Rejected — out of current scope |
| C-013 | START-UP NY is an active Buffalo incentive for CLARK. | Rejected — removed from active planning language |
Incentives and process
| ID | Claim | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C-005 | Canadian R&D incentives materially improve corridor economics. | Needs Validation — depends on entity and project structure |
| C-014 | SR&ED, NRC IRAP, FedDev Ontario, and NYPA hydropower programs are real mechanisms relevant at the program level. | Safe to Use — project-specific applicability still unvalidated |
| C-009 | Research must gate investor-facing claims. | Safe to Use — this register is the enforcement |
Commercial sequence
| ID | Claim | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C-010 | First commercial beachhead: industrial-controls OEMs and integrators needing low-volume, firmware-sensitive PCB/PCBA support. | Safe to Use |
| C-015 | First revenue comes from IPC certification and train-the-trainer activity, before assembly and platform fees. | Safe to Use |
| C-016 | 10% default ownership in new Assembly Centres; upper band 15–20%. | Safe to Use |
| C-017 | Software bundled into Assembly Centre licensing; separately billed only for non-centre users. | Safe to Use |
Hamilton training operation
| ID | Claim | Status |
|---|---|---|
| C-018 | The Hamilton Training Facility operates directly under CLARK inside the Niagara Assembly footprint, as a beta for licensed expansion. | Safe to Use |
| C-019 | CLARK is the primary brand for the facility from day one. | Safe to Use |
| C-020 | The facility is positioned as a regional workforce centre, with the host as prime beneficiary. | Safe to Use |
| C-021 | First training bundle: IPC-A-610 CIS, IPC-A-610 CSE, Hand Soldering Certification, EPTAC Cable & Wire Harness Lab, IPC-A-610 CIT. | Safe to Use |
| C-022 | IPC credentials are paired with modular Clark Courses that stand alone as rigorous manufacturing-literacy training. | Safe to Use |
| C-023 | IPC outcomes are marketed as IPC-certified; Clark's curriculum carries the separate Clark Certified designation. | Safe to Use |
| C-024 | Beta commercial model: fixed fees calibrated to volume plus revenue share after direct instructional costs. | Safe to Use |
| C-025 | Liability split: instructor liability with CLARK; trainee injury and equipment damage with the facility; facility safety with the host; training-process compliance with CLARK. | Safe to Use |
| C-026 | The Advisory Group is a working group (monthly updates, quarterly sessions), not an approval body. | Safe to Use |
| C-027 | Verifiable, shareable Clark Certified records by end of year 1; blockchain treated as an option, not a day-one requirement. | Safe to Use |
4. How to read the scoreboard
Of 27 tracked claims: 19 Safe to Use, 4 Needs Validation, 4 Rejected — and one Safe claim (C-001) flagged for restatement. The unsafe and rejected rows are where the honesty lives:
- The corridor pair (C-004 vs C-012) is the register's best exhibit: the same geography, two phrasings, opposite statuses. The strong version is banned; the modest version is allowed. That distinction is the protocol.
- The three Rejected geography claims (Dunkirk, housing, START-UP NY) are walked-back ambitions from the earlier thesis, kept on the books so the walk-back is visible.
- C-003 ("no competitor") is the claim every pitch deck wants and this register withholds.
5. Standing rules
- A claim enters external material only at Safe to Use.
- Status changes are recorded, not overwritten — including downgrades.
- Field reports may cite Needs Validation claims only when labelled as open questions.
- When a public document and the register conflict, the register wins and the document gets corrected in public.