Watch the Stream! GIG 10th anniversary

Watch the Stream! GIG 10th anniversary

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Check the online transmission! GIG supports the work of its 155 members in 47 countries. GIG facilitates global exchange between innovators and innovation spaces, and implements various projects. As the world becomes more complex and fast-paced, so do the challenges, threatening the most vulnerable and marginalized communities. Therefore, GIG enables cross-cultural connections and global knowledge exchanges, in order to support our members and their communities to develop solutions that best suit their local needs. We co-create and implement long-term projects that offer collaborative solutions to systemic problems in different localities.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rgx5azRaagE ...
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The Makerspace: A Global Miniature of Innovation

The Makerspace: A Global Miniature of Innovation

By Chaïma Attia Comment Closed
Can technology promise to heal and reconstruct what previous technological revolutions have destroyed? Current technological advancements are no longer powered by steam, but what are they powered by?Amidst the wake of an AI revolution, how do we examine the medium before the message and avoid another retrospective into the impact of technologies on society? In the makerspace at re:publica, The Digital Doughnut Modelworkshopwill explore how technology sectors and the technologies we use can get us to thrive and not only to survive as humans without overcrossing the boundaries of the Planet.  What do people in Iraq -arguably one of the hottest spots on earth-, do to mitigate climate change? The innovation for climate change sessionwill show us how they make water from thin air and utilize the blazing heat from the sun to help their society. As we pose all these questions, we can not but wonder, were the answers there all along in indigenous knowledge and traditional knowledge structures? Incorporating Indigenous...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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