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Author: Melanie Chan

Entrepreneurship

GIG Community Call: Open Hardware Manager – Connecting Designs to Distributed Manufacturing

Written by Melanie Chan

Join us for a latest GIG community Call exploring how open hardware designs can be connected to the people and places that can actually make them. Discover how open standards and distributed manufacturing infrastructure can strengthen local production ecosystems, humanitarian response, and community resilience. GIG is pleased to welcome back Nathan Parker, a long-time GIG … Continue reading “GIG Community Call: Open Hardware Manager – Connecting Designs to Distributed Manufacturing”

Events

15th July 2026 Community Call: Crafting Connected Communities (ECA x GIG )

Written by Melanie Chan

Co-hosted with the European Crafts Alliance (ECA), our upcoming make-a-thek community call explores how craft and maker culture contribute to community building, resilience, and social inclusion. Together, we will look at how creative initiatives become spaces for civic engagement, shared learning, and collaborative production – through the lenses of People, Place, and Resources. To ground … Continue reading “15th July 2026 Community Call: Crafting Connected Communities (ECA x GIG )”

GIG@re:publica

Making together: The Makerspace at re:publica 2026

Written by Melanie Chan

This year, re:publica’s motto “Never Gonna Give You Up” centered on resilience, solidarity, and fighting for a better future amidst ongoing global and technological crises. At a moment when democratic values, open knowledge, and community infrastructure all face serious pressure, the Makerspace was a dynamic interface on the ground connecting these critical topics. Curated for … Continue reading “Making together: The Makerspace at re:publica 2026”

Conference

Building community resilience: GIG weekend 2026

Written by Melanie Chan

Somewhere between freshly roasted coffee, invigorating workshops, and the formation of a midday Capoeira circle (😲), something clicked into place. An annual highlight for the GIG community, this year’s GIG Week was a reminder of why the network exists: not to simply talk about changing the world, but to be surrounded and inspired by people … Continue reading “Building community resilience: GIG weekend 2026”

Events

The Makerspace returns to re:publica!

Written by Melanie Chan

The Makerspace remains the heart of the ever-growing re:publica conference. While we talk about big tech and the next breakthrough, we know that nothing truly grows without a community behind it. For us this is certainly the case, with the GIG community growing over the past 12 years, bringing together tinkerers, grassroots innovators, and social change … Continue reading “The Makerspace returns to re:publica!”

Events

22nd April 2026 Community Call: Towards Textile Circularity – Building Regional Impact Networks

Written by Melanie Chan

Co-hosted with Fab City Foundation, our upcoming make-a-thek community call brings together practitioners, makers, cultural organisations, and circular economy actors to explore how local ecosystems can support more circular textile practices and collective action. We will draw on two grounded examples to spark the conversation. In the Bergisches Region, Adriana Cabrera’s work builds on second-hand … Continue reading “22nd April 2026 Community Call: Towards Textile Circularity – Building Regional Impact Networks”

Events

18th March 2026 Community Call: Driving Collective Action in Libraries

Written by Melanie Chan

We’re excited to invite you to a special make-a-thek community call ahead of Fashion Revolution Week 2026. The meetup will bring together library practitioners, cultural institutions, and circular fashion advocates to explore how communities can be mobilized around more sustainable fashion systems. Together with Ariane Piper (Fashion Revolution Germany) and Agata Zgliczynska (Circular Fashion Foundation … Continue reading “18th March 2026 Community Call: Driving Collective Action in Libraries”

Events

21st Jan Community Call: Textile-to-textile & circular fashion in Asia

Written by Melanie Chan

We’re excited to kick off our first community call of 2026 with a conversation on circular and regenerative fashion systems. Join makers, designers, innovators, and researchers from around the world to explore powerful approaches to sustainability in fashion and material innovation. Co-hosted by Global Innovation Gathering (GIG) and the Fab City Foundation (FCF) as part … Continue reading “21st Jan Community Call: Textile-to-textile & circular fashion in Asia”

Environment

senseBox:Bike: Cycling for Citizen Science and Urban Safety

Written by Melanie Chan

Air pollution and climate change remain urgent global challenges, yet many cities lack the environmental data needed to act. While major developed cities may have regular air-quality monitoring, many countries, especially across Africa, rely on only a handful of sensors to represent millions of residents. Meanwhile, cycling, often framed as an inexpensive solution to urban … Continue reading “senseBox:Bike: Cycling for Citizen Science and Urban Safety”

Environment

GIG Community Call: Adapting LabStorm from Brazil to the Philippines

Written by Melanie Chan

What happens when communities facing climate disasters come together to create their own solutions? In our latest GIG community call, we explored an inspiring journey of grassroots innovation that traveled from Brazil to the Philippines, showing how powerful ideas can replicate across the globe. The call opened with an introduction to LabStorm, a citizen innovation … Continue reading “GIG Community Call: Adapting LabStorm from Brazil to the Philippines”