Makerspaces Driving Local Innovation
- February 21, 2023
- 6 min read
Join the African and European network of networks and the Makers-in-Residency Program
The mAkE project is funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. The idea is to provide makerspaces, makers, SMEs and startups educational resources and tools to build sustainable businesses, train their members on digital skills, create new revenue streams and networks of local, smart production, and encourage cooperation for global collaboration networks.
Map of Machinery and the Maker Passport
To reach these objectives, we need to implement systems for sharing skills, machinery and contracts across makerspaces in Africa and Europe. We will implement a ‘Maker Passport‘ for mutual recognition of maker skills and facilitate mentoring and learning, provide access to digital fabrication tools by mapping the location of machinery based on the Open Know-Where standard.
The development of a mutual recognition of skills standard will support the creation of a maker passport, that shows skills and experience levels of makers. These passports will be shared so that makers will be able to see who has what skills, who can help them scale up manufacturing and who can help them or mentor them.
Participating in the survey will help establish a mutual recognition standard for makerspaces in the maker community and for makers to navigate between spaces, and will help to populate an online map to show manufacturing capabilities in order to identify potential suppliers.
Makers, their customers and potential customers often need to know where they can find the machines they need to fulfill a manufacturing contract. Mapping of machinery will be undertaken using the Open-Know-Where Standard. Online maps will show manufacturing capabilities across Africa and Europe so that development organisations, governments and companies can identify potential suppliers of different products they might need for health, emergency response, education and other needs. It will help to open up business opportunities for African and European makerspaces as they will find ways to scale and replicate.
The main outputs of this work include:
- the development of a stakeholder community for “People and Skills,” which will focus on the exploration of the existing tools, standards, processes, and specifications in support of creating;
- a new open standard to support the creation of a digital maker passport. A ‘People and Skills’ standard continues the growth of the IoPA‘s initiatives in providing open standards for manufacturing; v1.0. of Open Know-How and Open Know-Where have been released and are under continued development.
To that end, we are now gathering additional information from the maker community to aid in the development of a new data standard and tools. The information gathered from this survey, as well as subsequent community conversations and individual interviews will be used in support of building a standard for skills that can be used for developing a digital maker passport and the mapping of machinery in and near makerspaces across Africa and Europe. The goal is to develop a distributing manufacturing network across Africa and Europe.
Click here to join the network of networks and participate in a distributing production.
The second part of this survey is the application form for the makers-in-residency-program (MiR). If you wish to fill out the survey but don’t want to apply for this opportunity, you will automatically skip the application section by clicking not interested. All other info is relevant for the MiR program as well and cannot be skipped.
If you are interested in learning more about and potentially participating further in the ongoing research on the maker passport, you can indicate your interest in the survey, or reach out at any time to [email protected] requesting additional information.
Makers-in-Residency-program
This program is designed to benefit both makers as well as makerspaces and will focus on talented
- African makers coworking on prototypes in European makerspaces, DIHs, Fablabs etc.
- European makers coworking on prototypes in African makerspaces, DIHs, Fablabs etc.
When?
– Deadline for application: 13.03.23, 20h00 CET/19h00 GMT
– Duration: 4-6 weeks
– Program start: earliest start date is June 2023
Why is this interesting for your makerspace?
– build strong international partnerships and expand your network
– find new business opportunities
– give your makers the opportunity to co-create or boost prototype(s) together
– learn from each other
– financial remuneration up to 1000€ allocated based on proposal for project and location related funds requested (proposal)
– receive business development training
What?
– host an innovative maker from another continent
– co-develop or boost prototypes
– share your expertise
– you will be included in the matchmaking process
What is being covered?
– travel (flights, visa, accommodation) and per diem costs for makers
– support in organizing logistics of the stay
Have we caught your interest? Please apply here:
To join the network of networks —-> Click HERE
Maker-in-Residency Program —–> Apply HERE
Why is this interesting for you as a maker?
– it will give you the opportunity to co-create or boost your prototype(s) and product(s) together with other talented makers
– build strong international partnerships and expand your network
– find new business opportunities
– learn from each other
– use machinery that is not available in your makerspace at home
Who is the program for?
– You have a rough prototype but you need better machinery and expertise to take it to the next level?
– You want to improve your prototype or product by working with like minded makers on similar products to exchange?
– You have invented a new material and would like to develop ideas with product developers?
– Are you looking for a different market/ environment to test your prototype or product?
– You would like to explore another maker-ecosystem?
and/or
– You have an open-source prototype/s that would help make the world a better place and you are willing to share these for a better future.
…then this program is for you!
What is being covered:
– travel (flights, visa, accommodation) and per diem costs for awarded maker
– support in organizing logistics of the stay
Have we caught your interest? Please apply here:
To join the network of networks —-> Click HERE
Maker-in-Residency Program —–> Apply HERE
