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Welcome to July'25 Edition of GIGinsights!
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This summer, the GIG community is radiating with collaborative energy and meaningful connections across the globe! ☀️
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From the Makerspace at this year's re:publica conference to community gatherings at FAB25 Czechia, our network continues to demonstrate the power of open, circular, and regenerative innovation.
We're also celebrating incredible project milestones like LibreWater's solar desalination efforts while diving deep into inclusive design through Make-a-thek's community calls. It's inspiring to see the GIG community continue pushing boundaries.
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Ready to explore the latest community highlights? Let's dive in! 🌱💡
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General Updates From the GIG Community and Team Members 📰
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Reflections on Makerspace @ Republica’25
With 21+ countries uniting at the Makerspace, we celebrated the power of global collaboration at re:publica once again. With 20 hands-on workshops held across 3 days, the Makerspace was a vibrant space for inspiration, community, and creativity across all generations.
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For the GIG community, re:publica 2025 reinforced how the future of innovation isn't just about better or shinier products—it's about better systems, accessible education, and community resilience in the face of global challenges.
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LibreWater Community Call
The LibreWater project recently deployed solar desalination prototypes in Basra, Iraq, using open-source methodologies. The team tested two approaches: a solar concentrator dish that proved functional but faced material challenges due to high temperatures, and a Fresnel lens system that showed advantages in construction ease and lower costs.
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Key achievements included developing improved 3D modeling practices to ensure component integrity and easier assembly and creating comprehensive documentation for global replication. In a recent community call, Tom Dietel, Spyros Nompilakis, and Nawres Arif shared their collaborative journey discussing challenges overcome, successes achieved, and future prospects of their vital work.
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Make-a-thek’s 1st Community Call
The May 14, 2025 Make-a-thek community call focused on inclusive fashion and assistive technology. Sema Gedik from Auf Augenhoehe discussed her work developing inclusive fashion design, emphasizing the difference between adaptive design and inclusive design. Saad Chinoy presented SalvageGarden's work at Singapore's Punggol Regional Library makerspace, where volunteers create customized assistive devices using 3D printers and other tools. The session highlighted how interdisciplinary approaches can bridge accessibility and sustainability gaps.
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GIG Sessions at FAB25 Czechia
Our community gatherings continue at FAB25, where GIG members are currently presenting on critical topics. Sessions explore distributed disaster response through open-source, off-grid manufacturing solutions, rethinking impact measurement in Fab Labs and Fab Cities, and transforming African FabLabs into production centers, among others. Workshops by GIG members examine how makers can drive a circular economy through reuse, scaling local IoT sensing data projects to become interoperable, and more.
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Farewell & Thank You, Nadia 💛
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Lastly, our lovely Nadia, GIG's Community Coordinator, will be moving on from her role with us. We want to thank her wholeheartedly for serving the community with passion and dedication over the past two years. Nadia has been an incredible colleague—beautifully bridging her local work as Community Lead at San3a Tech Makerspace in Cairo with her role at GIG. Her presence has been a true example of how local and global work can complement and strengthen one another. While this marks the end of her time in this official role, we are certain it's only a "see you soon," and we look forward to future collaborations. Thank you, Nadia, for everything!
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Events:
This year, the world's largest digital fabrication event will bring local and global innovators to the Czech Republic, shaped by insights from over 50 European FabLabs.
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Dinacon is an experimental conference about exploring new ways of interacting with nature. For one month, the conference will host field biologists, interaction designers, engineers, artists, and anyone simply interested in exploring new ways of interacting with nature.
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B-NOMAD permaculture initiative is hosting their yearly festival of workshops related to nomad permaculture and regenerative conscience.
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This summit is a four-day international leadership summit aimed at bringing together forward-thinking young leaders, innovators, policymakers, and SDG advocates from across the globe. It is set in Bangkok, Thailand and serves as a global launchpad for youth-led action toward the United Nations SDGs.
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Opportunities:
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Rhodes trust has opened this call, offering the opportunity to win up to £25.000. It is part of the Tech and Society Forum, with the theme of abundance, not focusing on materialism but rather about more meaningful elements to society.
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Focusing on safety science and safe work, this grant is directed to contribute to the centre’s efforts to engineer a safer world. This call is open to academic institutions, research organizations, non-profit organizations and industry worldwide.
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Deadline: 17th September 2025
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This journal is welcoming submissions for their upcoming issue, themed 'The Impact of Open Technologies in Uncertain Times'.
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Deadline: 15th December 2025
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Support GIG 🎯
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We invite you to join us in driving innovation for social impact worldwide as a supporting member.
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Why Support GIG? 🤝
- Drive long-term growth and sustainability for a global network of innovators.
- Promote inclusive, sustainable innovation through knowledge exchange and learning.
- Advance open hardware research and distributed manufacturing.
- Strengthen grassroots climate resilience efforts worldwide.
Ways to Support 🌟
Here are the suggested annual contributions:
Small Organizations: €300
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For organizations with fewer than 50 employees or under €1 million budget
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Large Organizations: €3,000+
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For organizations with 50+ employees or €1 million+ budget
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Contribute now or contact us to learn how your support can help social innovators create lasting change in communities worldwide.
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👀 Stay tuned for more exciting updates next month! 💌
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