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Welcome to August'26 Edition of GIGinsights!
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August kept the network buzzing! As part of make-a-thek, we kicked off a pilot with Tufting Berlin and HILO Textiles to tackle tufting's yarn waste problem. We're also thrilled to share that GIG has joined the Judith Neilson Foundation's first-ever cohort of Innovation Partners, backing grassroots innovators across the Global Majority through the GIG Fund, and that GIG strengthens its ties to the global Fab City network through the newly established Cape Town node. We recap our first Francophone community call connecting West African makerspaces, and our recent call on federating open hardware knowledge. Plenty to read, explore, and get inspired by this month. Let's go! 🌍✨
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General Updates From the GIG Community and Team Members 📰
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Project Kick-Off: Closing Little Loops
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Tufting is booming in Berlin, with studios across the city running workshops to make everything from wall hangings to tiny carpets. But every loop pulled through means a bit of yarn gets cut off, usually wasted. As part of the make-a-thek project, which brings circular making into public libraries, we're kicking off a pilot project with Tufting Berlin to explore whether that yarn can be recycled back into yarn. Supported by HILO Textiles' machine expertise throughout the trial, the studio will test textile recycling machines like HILO's yarn-spinning technology, over four months. Stayed tuned!
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GIG joins Judith Neilson Foundation's first cohort of Innovation Partners
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We're thrilled to join the Judith Neilson Foundation's first-ever cohort of Innovation Partners, backing bold ideas for fairer, more liveable cities. Through the GIG Fund, our new partnership with JNF gives grassroots innovators across the Global Majority small, flexible grants to test solutions, from solar-powered AI computing to low-cost climate monitoring, in real communities. We're honoured to join seven incredible Innovation Partners: Centre for Global Equality, Humanitarian OpenStreetMap Team, Assistive Technologies for Disability Trust, Ushahidi, Million Lives Collective, CHANGE, and Gatsby Africa.
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Community Call Recap: Open Hardware Manager
Four years in the making, Nathan Parker, co-founder of the Internet of Production Alliance, walked the GIG community through the story of Open Hardware Manager (OHM), a tool that turns open hardware projects on GitHub or GitLab into shareable manifests anyone can build from. OHM's five-layer model explains why a good standard rarely gets adopted alone - it needs tools, an engine, services, and a platform behind it. Already holding 174 designs, from simple printables to NASA JPL's Mars rover, the system runs as a federated mesh so no single failure can take it down.
Read the full recap.
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Francophone Maker Community Call Recap
Our first Francophone community call drew 11 members, connecting GIG's makerspace community across West Africa. Hosted by Dodji Onu, long-time GIG member, participants shared projects ranging from open-source braille fabrication to fisher communities in Brazil, Fablab training in Burkina Faso, and digital literacy work in Côte d'Ivoire. Following our earlier Portuguese-language call, this edition reflects GIG's push for multilingual maker community connections, with a Spanish-language call potentially next if interest keeps growing.
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Cape Town is now a Fab City!
Exciting developments for the Western Cape following the 2026 Fab City pledge: Cape Town now joins the global Fab City network, an initiative reimagining cities as places that produce rather than merely consume. The Western Cape's long tradition of making, repairing, and improvising, spanning the informal economy, design schools, and research labs, already provides the foundation for production-led urban transformation. GIG will play a key role in connecting these nodes and building the infrastructure to help the city produce more of what it needs. Interested in getting involved? Reach out to [email protected].
Learn more.
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GIG Members' Project Highlights ✨
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Andrew Lamb, Australia
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Andrew Lamb and the Internet of Production Alliance is celebrating Kigali's selection to host the annual global FabLabs conference in 2028, a major opportunity for Africa's makerspace community. The event will run in partnership with Makerspaces Africa (a legacy action of the mAkE project), the FabCity Foundation, and others, with thanks to FabLab Rwanda and the Rwandan government for making it happen. Preparations will unfold over the next two years - stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, GIG members are invited to consider joining Fab27, next year's conference in Oulu, Finland.
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Daniela Marzavan, Portugal
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Daniela Marzavan, founder of Change Darer and Professor at Forward College, is launching Framing by Design, a project-based course exploring what it means to solve a problem well, questioning the problem before rushing to a solution. Students will work with partners on complex, "wicked" challenges, using stakeholder engagement and design framing to redefine the problem space. Daniela is seeking GIG members with challenges suited to this kind of reframing, as well as educators teaching similar courses on collaboration for innovation. Get in touch by 1st September 2026 if you have a challenge to contribute!
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Azodo Chibuzor, Nigeria
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Azodo Chibuzor and The Collective Lab at Nile University of Nigeria recently hosted the Student Project Exhibition 2026, a two-day event showcasing 26 student projects across Computing and Engineering. The exhibition kicks off The Collective Lab's 2026 Incubation Programme, which will guide students from prototype to profitable venture ahead of an exciting Demo Day this October, where they'll pitch to investors and sponsors. Professionals in the field are invited to mentor the 2026 incubation cohort. Apply here.
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Dhairya Pujara, USA
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Dhairya Pujara has been working on Ants in the Room, a book exploring problem solving through stories from entrepreneurship, innovation, teaching, parenting, travel, and everyday life. Playful and story-driven, it explores our ability to notice, frame, and navigate problems before jumping to solutions. Dhairya invites the GIG community to read selected chapters and help co-shape the book before publication. Join the experiment here (access code 17812).
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Special dedication: newly nominated members 🌍
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We're delighted to introduce our newest members, each bringing a shared commitment to our mission. Please join us in welcoming them!
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Events:
The global Free and Open Source Software for Geospatial conference, with workshops, main conference sessions, community events, and code sprints around open mapping, geospatial tools, and civic/open-data infrastructure.
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A digital rights and civil-society gathering for groups working on urgent technology-related challenges affecting human rights, social justice, journalism, and civic space at local, regional, and global levels.
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The 10th Data for Policy conference, themed around governance of/with AI, data, infrastructure, and tech sovereignty; relevant for civic data, public-sector AI, and sociotechnical governance.
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A major international festival and forum for art, technology, and society, spanning conferences, talks, workshops, screenings, exhibitions, and citywide festival hubs.
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The annual world summit of KDE, one of the largest free-software communities, combining community, design, development, governance, and open-source collaboration.
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A flagship maker festival for inventors, educators, artists, engineers, and fabricators, covering prototyping, DIY technology, fabrication, hands-on learning, and public-facing invention.
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Opportunities:
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This co-funded initiative supports non-partisan, early-stage organisations, networks, collectives, or individuals working at the intersection of democratic political leadership and climate resilience. The Ideation Grants support early-stage ideas and exploratory work.
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Deadline: September 4, 2026
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A programme supporting grassroots organisations, community educators, youth movements, civil society organisations, and coalitions to use journalism as a tool for civic engagement and community action. Current themes include rainforest governance and Indigenous rights, ocean governance, and climate resilience, livelihoods, gender, and adaptation.
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Deadline: September 6, 2026
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A global programme supporting applied technical research on censorship, internet shutdowns, surveillance, circumvention, shutdown-resilient communications, privacy and security, AI-enabled information controls, and related internet-freedom technologies.
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Deadline: September 7, 2026
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A global accelerator for early-stage technology nonprofits using digital products and technology to address social challenges at scale. The programme combines specialised nonprofit and technology acceleration with mentorship, fundraising support, and access to an international network of technology and philanthropy partners.
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Deadline: September 7, 2026
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A programme supporting individuals and teams developing scalable engineering innovations with social or environmental benefits across sub-Saharan Africa. Hardware applicants should have a working prototype and evidence of customer interest, while software-based innovations should have a functioning minimum viable product and demonstrated traction.
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Deadline: September 8, 2026
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A pan-African innovation challenge for young innovators developing or scaling devices, equipment, digital systems, and other solutions addressing energy and sustainable-development challenges. Thematic tracks cover green jobs, agribusiness and waste-to-energy, green manufacturing and value addition, and AI and connectivity.
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Deadline: September 10, 2026
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An international challenge supporting women-led seed-stage ventures creating measurable social, environmental and/or economic impact, with scalability and sustainability potential. Eligible ventures need to have a defined or functional MVP and demonstrate potential for growth and scaling.
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Deadline: September 17, 2026
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A global circular-economy innovation competition for interdisciplinary university student teams developing real-world products, services, systems, or other solutions that rethink how resources are used. Teams must represent at least two different academic institutions and are encouraged to combine perspectives from different disciplines.
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Deadline: October 4, 2026
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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 Organisations: €300
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For organisations with fewer than 50 employees or under €1 million budget
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Large Organisations: €3,000+
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For organisations 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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