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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The mAkE website is live!

The mAkE website is live!

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
Scaling and strengthening existing networks mAkE builds on active networks of makerspaces, it strengthens existing pan-African connections between FabLabs, open science and hardware spaces. mAkE brings together the best of both continents to benefit the people who use makerspaces, to learn from each other, to collaborate on vital enabling infrastructures. Makerspaces as Digital Innovation Hubs for local smart production in Africa mAkE is a project which takes a transdiciplinary approach to connect European and African Digital Innovation Hubs to maximise their potential as spaces for digital innovation, skill building, job creation and contact points for global collaboration networks. About the project: mAkE is an EU-funded project, which promotes cooperation and strategic partnership with countries in Africa to support the strengthening of existing digital innovation hubs (DIHs) in Africa and Europe. Its overall aim is to facilitate the collaboration between EU and African DIHs to strengthen a common EU-Africa innovation and start-up ecosystem. Coordinated by the Global Innovation Gathering, mAkE is governed by a consortium of...
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MboaLab inaugurates its “Bio Innovation Hub”

MboaLab inaugurates its “Bio Innovation Hub”

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
MboaLab committed to educating, transforming and positively impacting the lives of the Cameroonian people through its DIY lab. Last February, Mboalab, in partnership with the University of Cambridge, inaugurated its "Bio-Innovation Hub". This Hub is a shared biotechnology laboratory made available to researchers and students and is already undoubtedly contributing to the democratisation of biotechnology in Africa.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AD5m_UQrw8A Founded in 2018, with the aim to tackle the lack of biology laboratory equipment and reagents; MboaLab started bridging the gap in access to scientific equipment, particularly in Cameroon. This is the seed of what became the DIY biotechnology lab, MboaLab, in 2018 Biomakers at Mboa Bio Innovation Hub DIY biotechnology labs believe that science shouldn't be reserved for those who are formally qualified scientists and that anyone and everyone should be able to dabble in science. Therefore, in partnership with local universities, MboaLab organises and runs internship and training programs to equip growing talents in molecular biology, synthetic biology, engineering, and biotechnology. As a result, about 50...
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Climate Lab in Science Camp Iraq

Climate Lab in Science Camp Iraq

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Science Camp is a well-known on-field player on job-oriented technological education for social innovation in the city of Basra, at the banks of Shatt al-Arab in southern Iraq. Moreover, Science Camp plays a significant role in the region by proposing methods and products intrinsically connected to the SDGs.  The ever-greater effect of climate change in the region pressures water availability & quality to the population. And it challenges the 4 million inhabitants of the 3rd most extensive petrol reservoir globally. As part of the "Climate Lab in Science Camp" project, a partnership with German Corporation for International Cooperation GmbH (GIZ) ICT for Youth in Iraq, Science Camp practitioners created the "water from Air". It is a scalable & replicable design and can be duplicated by makers and Fab Lab global networks. The solution needs no extra energy despite the amount already used in air-conditioning systems. It provides clean water, with increased efficiency in high temperature & hot weather. And, as simple as it looks, it depends on...
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Join us in the Critical Making Mentoring Programme 2022

Join us in the Critical Making Mentoring Programme 2022

By Mugethi Gitau Comment Closed
We are excited to launch the Critical Making Mentoring Programme coming up this spring. Here is a sneak peak of what is to be expected! The Mentoring Programme will take place during 2022, requiring only a few hours of active participation per month. Further details will be announced soon! Do you want to stay updated on the mentoring programme? Register your email now to get a special notification when the programme opens for application in April! Update: The mentoring programme is open until the 31st of May. Click here for more details and to apply About Critical Making:Critical Making is a partnership to encourage responsible research & innovation to foster open access, inclusiveness and positive change across the global maker community. Together, we add scientific insights into the potential of the maker movement, and set up activities that focus on critical and socially responsible making. We aim to show how these communities can offer new opportunities for young makers of all genders to contribute to...
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Have the best of African Makerspaces at your fingertips

Have the best of African Makerspaces at your fingertips

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
The Africa Makerspace Network launched their first magazine: join us in this reading! The Africa Makerspace Network (AMN) is a grassroots, continental movement that seeks to set the platform for dialogue and increase the visibility of makerspaces in Africa. AMN launched its magazine first edition, The African Maker. The publication throws light on the activities of makerspaces that are part of AMN. Get to know what’s happening in many makerspaces across Africa, stories about innovators, news on STEM giants and much more. The Magazine. Go grab yours! Among the content, you will know more about initiatives flourishing in Tanzania, Kenya, Nigeria, Namibia and Ghana, but not only. In addition, the magazine presents the most significant maker projects and processes in the African continent today, from Solar Taxis to affordable microscopes to science and technology for children. The Africa Makerspace Network seeks to harmonize all makerspaces in Africa under one umbrella to grow and attain sustainable development in Africa. The network acts to research and contact...
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Careables Online Exhibition at Remote Chaos Experience 21!

Careables Online Exhibition at Remote Chaos Experience 21!

By Ricardo Ruiz Comment Closed
Last December, Saad Chinoy, one of our most active members and part of GIG's supervisory board, presented Careables during the remote Chaos Experience 2021 - a 96 hours event organized online by The Chaos Computer Club e. V. (CCC), Europe's largest association of hackers. For more than thirty years, CCC has provided information about technical and societal issues, such as surveillance, privacy, freedom of information, hacktivism, data security and many other exciting things around technology and hacking issues.  Inside Careables Online Exhibition During this presentation, visitors could tour our Online Careables Exhibition in gather.town, followed by a Talk and Q&A session on how Careables evolved during this last year in different countries from the Global South and how the opensource making experience can change the future of health and care. Careables has been a four-year-long project focused on making healthcare systems more open and accessible to people with different needs and backgrounds. Careables are healthcare devices co-designed in a collaborative ecosystem where people become creators,...
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Announcing DOTS 2021!

Announcing DOTS 2021!

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
It is finally that time of the year! Although we could not physically gather anywhere after 2019, we did gather virtually in many events, and also during the weekly GIG team calls. We know the reality of meeting online is not exactly what we want – but we’re also preparing to meet again physically in 2022 ! Still, this year’s DOTS – our annual gathering – will need to take place virtually .  DOTS will be more focused this year on our network and organisation. With this, we invite you to save the date for the DOTS week (November 26-30) and to participate and arrange sessions. Leading up to this, we shall offer several info sessions about board members roles, GIG governance and the general assembly.   The agenda for DOTS: 26th | 13.00 - 15.30 CET: General Assembly Meeting The  General Assembly is the central decision-making organ of GIG e.V. the NGO which forms the legal body of the GIG Network....
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Careables 2020: Innovation, Collaboration and Free Technologies for People-Centered Health

Careables 2020: Innovation, Collaboration and Free Technologies for People-Centered Health

By Theresa FendNo Comments
On February 5, the Careables America Latina was launched in Olinda, Recife State, Brazil. The project is an international cooperation between the Brazilian organizations Casa Criatura, Centro Cultural Coco de Umbigada, Coletivo 3D, Grupo de Pesquisa TAPIOCA/UFRPE, Instituto Procomum and Secretaria de Saúde de Olinda and  IRD (France) and Global Innovation Gathering – GIG (Berlin). The platform will use digital manufacturing, distributed and descentralized manufacturing and collaborative production to create products and solutions for people’s health. For the Procomum Institute, this project is special because it combines local and international cooperation and ancestral and technological knowledge. According to Georgia Nicolau, director of IP and member of GIG, Careables is an objective example of how it is possible to carry out work from the bottom up, with community development in a network using free technologies. “We are presenting and building scalable, replicable and technological solutions. Combining low and high technology, traditional knowledge and new digital production and manufacturing technologies to solve systemic health problems ”,...
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Upcoming: Tech for Good Hackathon in Singapore

Upcoming: Tech for Good Hackathon in Singapore

By Victoria WenzelmannNo Comments
30 teams of young minds will take on problem statements in an attempt to prototype solutions for recognition and visibility aside from just doing good. Exemplary teams will showcase proposed solutions at the Tech For Good showcase and festival on 2nd of November in sunny Singapore. The festival will showcase team prototypes along with volunteer welfare organization partner organizations and beneficiaries, with a central hands-on event Makerspace (GiG@republica style) where EG will conduct hack-a-toy workshops along with others. Tech for Good is an innovation challenge for passionate and creative youths, 15-25 years old, to develop innovative solutions that will benefit persons with disabilities and their families/care-givers. The challenge runs from August until November where participants develop solutions through an iterative process of design thinking, culminating in a public festival of prototype showcase and workshops for PWDs. EngineeringGood is a volunteer driven charity that needs your support to continue bringing innovative low-cost accessible tech solutions and STEM-oriented hands-on hacking workshops to caregivers and persons...
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