The Makerspace at re:publica 2022 was on fire!

By Fadia Elgharib Comment Closed
We are humbled by the presence of all the incredible people at our Makerspace during the three days of re:publica 2022. Whether you came by to check out the Open Hardware Exhibition, made your name light up by building paper circuits, or visited us in our co-working space, your  attendance and generous contributions made the makerspace a little more special this year. Our nineteen workshops ran as planned, with eleven remarkable Speakers/Makers arriving fresh from all across the global south to tell us about their latest discoveries and creative ways to use AI and Technology to help their communities, and tens arriving from around europe. Workshops were full with people rounded up at the makerspace table to learn about what was being shared.  Makers from Brazil, Singapore, Iraq, and India, to name a few, met with their counterparts in Europe. We are always fascinated by how Global Makers simply speak the same language. It is this mix of technical knowledge combined with...
Read More
Gig @ re:publica’22 is here!

Gig @ re:publica’22 is here!

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
GIG @ re:publica ‘22 is finally happening in-person (after 2 years of not being able to) and we couldn't be more excited! This year’s festival with the “Any way the wind blows” happens on 8-10 June, at Arena Berlin & Festsaal Kreuzberg Yay for the Makerspace! The Makerspace is happening at re:publica 2022 and as usual is bringing together some of the most brilliant makers and innovators from around the world. Curated by the GIG and with support from our membership in the Distributed Design Platform, we host full-on three days of Workshops, Meetups and Exhibitions, all happening in the Makerspace at the heart of re:publica. Whether developing robots, learning how to replace plastic bags with biodegradable materials, making your own eco-prints on DIY bio leather, or recording crawling insects by adapting programming code, our workshops program will ensure you leave with some real Hands-on knowledge. Learn more about the Workshops program here.At the comfort of the HomeBase, our Meetups will bring speakers...
Read More
Re:publica ’21 Sessions GIG – DDMP

Re:publica ’21 Sessions GIG – DDMP

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
Re:publica Sessions GIG - DDMP We are excited to announce that this year the Global Innovation Gathering will be hosting a pre-publica programme on May 20th together with the Distributed Design Europe Network. The programme is going to feature makers and innovators from around the world showcasing their work and discussion current topics  Whether virtual or in person - re:publica is the space where different communities convene and exchange including the international network of innovators that is the Global Innovation Gathering and the the Distributed Design network that brings together makers across Europe. This year we can’t welcome you at our pop-up Makerspace but we can invite you to join the sessions on May 20th as well as the other re:publica days to meet the GIG and DDMP communities and learn how the maker movement is working in times of the pandemic to support local communities with PPE, fight climate change and design a fair and equitable future!  Speakers will include Reem Talhouk...
Read More
GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
re:publica Accra, the very first re:publica conference held in Africa, took place on 14-15th December 2018 at the Trade Centre in Accra, Ghana and was attended by over 2000 people from 32 countries. 1st @republica in Africa was a blast. More than 2000 attendees came to Ghana to debate the rising digital society. 274 spokesperson, 110 Hours of program. It was hot, exciting and mindblowing. I learned so much about Africa! Thank you everyone who was involved doing it. #RpAccra pic.twitter.com/RcBpAHSSYV — netzpolitik (@netzpolitik) December 15, 2018 GIG was a supporter for this African edition of re:publica. Many GIGers were among the curation & organizing team as well as speakers. GIG also  hosted the makerspace through Kumasi Hive. Kudzai M Mubaiwa (iZone Hub, Zimbabwe), Nanjira Sambuli (World Wide Web Foundation, Kenya) and Jorge Appiah (Kumasi Hive, Ghana) curated the tracks around the topics ‘Business and Innovation’, Politics and Society’ and ‘Science and Education’. Nanjira Sambuli gave the first keynote speech right after the opening...
Read More
GIG @re:publica Accra

GIG @re:publica Accra

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Under the motto "next level" re:publica is going to Accra and so is GIG! The two-day festival will gather the digital society in Accra, Ghana.  As in Berlin you can expect mind blowing talks, hands-on workshops, art installations, an innovation marketplace, four themed lounges and an evening and party program. Through our the Through the CfP re:publica received over 200 applications, over 81% came from Africa-based speakers! There will be about 75 Speakers from all over Africa, from about 15 countries, among them South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Benin, Gambia and Senegal, as well as about  65 speakers from Ghana, on top of that there will be about 25 speakers from other continents (e.g. Brazil, USA, UK, Germany). As of today the program will be published bit by bit. At the moment there are 15 sessions online, with a  50%-50% Gender Balance among speakers.  GIG will be presenting a makerspace as one of the themed lounges and members will be present in different sessions! Sénamé Koffi Agbodjinou will...
Read More
GIG AND RE:PUBLICA 2018 

GIG AND RE:PUBLICA 2018 

By Zen EditorNo Comments
I just arrived this week back home from my last visit to Berlin, attending to this year's editions of re:publica and the Global Innovation Gathering (GIG) Network annual meeting. This is my second year in both events and again it was a reinvigorating experience. Here some comments about it. re:publica had its usual packed program with talks, workshops, meeting and actions. If you go to the events related with your themes of interest, you'll find that the activities and discourses resonate with stuff that you already know, with some distilled new insights from devoted practitioners. For example, I was surprised by how gendered technology takes dangerous, invisible, but common forms, like all popular limitedly "smart" but submissive assistants (Siri, Alexa, Cortana), only having female voices. Also finding clever critical readings about "cancelling the apocalypse" and co-designing the future, as reported by Lisa. But the important opportunity that re:publica offers is the one of face to face connection and serendipity. re:publica is becoming an important platform for...
Read More
GIG @ re:publica 2018

GIG @ re:publica 2018

By Zen EditorNo Comments
“We are what we create together” re:publica #18 is happening again and we are excited that a vibrant, diverse community of innovators joined for the 6th Global Innovation Gathering (GIG). The GIG network brings perspectives from across the world to Europe’s leading conference on the Internet and society. Every year since 2013 the Global Innovation Gathering hosts a track and since 2015 a pop-up Makerspace to showcase innovations from all over the world. In the past couple of days over 85 people from 30 different countries arrived in Berlin to meet up, share sparkles, experiences, design projects and prepare for re:publica with speakers representing projects in Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, South Sudan, India, Brazil, Colombia and many more. You find many of our sessions in the Tech for Good and also in the tracks such as Blockchain, Fe:male Digital Footprint, or re:health. We will be reporting on how the unconnected are connecting themselves, how Zero Net Neutrality unintentionally accelerated Fake News, tell...
Read More
GIG@re:connecting Europe 2017

GIG@re:connecting Europe 2017

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
In 2017 the re:publica team came up with an ambitious project to take the idea of re:publica further: Activists, scientists, hackers, entrepreneurs, NGOs, journalists, social media and marketing experts gathered in Dublin and Thessaloniki to debate the future of the information society in Europe. With re:connecting EUROPE, we aim to promote the development of a Europe-wide network of creative industries and push the exchange between the various digital scenes along our North-South axis. The conferences in Dublin and Thessaloniki gave us valuable insights and new perspectives on our interconnected world, which we discussed in-depth with our speakers and visitors. The events also created spaces for a cultural exchange of ideas across our European borders and allowed us to learn more about the issues concerning people on the ground at the re:publica locations. As a global network whose aim is to connect grassroots innovators we were huge fans of the re:connecting events. With the Labmobile already being used as a Mobile Ressource Center by Greece Communitere, GIG was excited to...
Read More
#Labmobile on tour to Greece

#Labmobile on tour to Greece

By Zen Editor1 Comment
Our sparkling Big Blue #Labmobile is on it's way to Greece together with a fabulous team: its creator Vicy, Communitere and FabLab Siegen. Follow @labmobil   Wrapping up Berlin Maker Faire, Big Blue is ready for her 9 day 2000km road trip to Greece. #NationalWeekofMaking #WorldRefugeeDay #WeAreCommunitere #mfb17 @greececommunitere A post shared by Doc North (@docnorth) on Jun 11, 2017 at 11:41am PDT Campaign update #1: Raised 3% of goal & a GC voyage to share #maker magic! https://t.co/j5wfMuvBtx @weareGIG @FabLabSiegen @MakerFaireBER pic.twitter.com/xQNuqMZun6 — Communitere (@INTCommunitere) 7 June 2017 Photos from a great day one of the @MakerFaireBER #mfb17 with #BigBlue @LabMobil @FabLabSiegen @weareGIG! pic.twitter.com/r5i3SZPZnv — Communitere (@INTCommunitere) 11 June 2017 We @INTCommunitere @FabLabSiegen @weareGIG won the #makerofmerit award at @MakerFaireBER today! Thank you!! #BlueRibbon for #BigBlue 🎉🙋🏻💕 pic.twitter.com/qJa5FOgG2C — Labmobile (@labmobil) 11 June 2017   Also at this years re:publica was the #labmobe the centre of all amazement. Final destination: Thessaloniki. DIY #LoveOutLoud Letters with @saadcaffeine @tusitalabooks at #makerspace #labmobile #gig17 pic.twitter.com/jW5NHa54uu — GIG (@weareGIG) 8 May 2017  ...
Read More
GIG #rp17 Closing Dinner at c-base

GIG #rp17 Closing Dinner at c-base

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Originally published at kairokoshary.com. For the fifth year, the Global Innovation Gathering (GIG) was held in Berlin, Germany. ​As with every year, it was tied to the infamous re:publica conference that takes place in early May.  The conference focuses on internet & society, which ties perfectly to the booking innovation sector in what is called in development parlance, "The Global South". GIG fits perfectly into this context brining talent from around the world, including the southern hemisphere, to re:publica. Here, the latest in amazing topics with regards to tech hubs, makerspaces, innovation, and entrepreneurship in countries from Brazil to the Philippines and many in between (actually this year had reps from 20 countries.) From the rp website describing the annual makerspace setup on the floor of re:publica: "... the GIG Makerspace is bringing you the best of 3D printing, laser cutting, soldering, wiring, moulding and building. 2017 is surely no exception. From fashiontech to custom-made DIY limbs to knitted generative patterns: have a look at our awesome demo, exhibition and...
Read More