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Welcome to the April'25 Edition of GIGinsights!
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This April, the spirit of innovation is thriving throughout the GIG network!
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From collaborative festival partnerships to our annual GIG week and events championing open-source energy solutions, our community continues to bridge borders and nurture impactful initiatives across the globe. Whether you're passionate about makerspaces, educational transformation, or sustainable energy access, there's something here to inspire you.
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Ready to dive into the exciting developments from our global community? Let's explore together! 🌍✨🔧
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General Updates From the GIG Community and Team Members 📰
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GIG Week’25
It’s this magical time of the year again – we bring our network together in Berlin this May 25 - 30th for our annual GIG week! GIG will host re:publica's annual makerspace, which features a repair café, kids' corner, exhibitions, and more, showcasing how frugal and social innovation can tackle sustainability challenges. The week's program beyond the conference will provide meaningful opportunities for members to connect and explore Berlin's innovation ecosystem.
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Check out the GIG week programme here!
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FAB 25 x GIG: Community Partners for Festival Collaboration
We're delighted to announce the collaboration between FAB 25 and GIG as community partners, fostering cross-border festival exchange and deeper community engagement. At re:publica 2025, GIG will host a FAB 25 pre-event, offering a preview of what's coming to Brno and Prague this July. FAB 25 will feature a dedicated session at re:publica, and GIG will actively participate in FAB 25 with workshops, talks, and community-driven sessions reflecting GIG's global spirit of open innovation. This partnership creates space for community exchange, new friendships, and shared goals, building the future of making.
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mAkE - A Legacy was born
After 3 years of EU funding, the mAkE project has concluded with exceptional results highlighted in the EU Commission's final review. The project delivered significant impact through key outputs, including the Maker Passport, People & Skills Specification, Map of Machinery, Open Makerspace Toolkit, and MOOC platform. Innovation assets like the Open Catalogue of Business Models and Venture Building Handbook were recognized as valuable for local SMEs and entrepreneurs. What's next for mAkE? The project's consortium members will continue co-developing a Cape Town-based mAkE Bureau. Stay tuned—the mAkE story has only just begun!
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From Local Makerspaces to Global Education
Combining academic insights with community-driven strategies, makerlabs have become vital innovation hubs, bridging hands-on creativity and formal education while developing sustainable online infrastructure for STEAM education and global partnerships. Despite funding and accessibility challenges, opportunities exist in empowering communities to share knowledge collaboratively. Learn more about how GIG members are tackling the innovative educational process in their spaces worldwide.
Read here
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Cairo Maker Faire
GIG members joined Cairo Maker Faire'25, Egypt's biggest DIY festival, hosting networking events on both days. Highlights included Fadia Elgharib's talk on the Global Maker Movement, featuring Saad Chinoy. Leyla Yunis and Lamiaa Nail also led a vibrant discussion on making in education from a global perspective. The event fostered creativity and community spirit, connecting makers from diverse backgrounds to share ideas and support each other's work. We're grateful to be part of Cairo's warm and welcoming maker community!
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Events:
GIG Week 2025 is coming up! Join us for a series of events including GIG Community events and tours of local innovation hubs. Stay tuned for more details.
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This year’s festival for the digital society will focus on the theme “Generation XYZ”. The program will explore key topics related to the opportunities and challenges of digitalization.
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30th & 31st May 2025 – Open Hardware Summit 2025 | Edinburgh, Scotland
Open call for talks, workshops, exhibitors, and collaborators to support the summit's organization and promotion.
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4th - 11th July 2025 – FAB25 | Brno and Prague, Czechia
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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. For those attending FAB25, please check out the planning document here.
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Opportunities:
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The Rhizome Fellowship is an eight-month journey designed to equip you with tools and accompany you through a narrative-led systems change process. Rooted in the Culture Hack Method, this fellowship provides a structured yet experimental space to develop and prototype narrative interventions that disrupt extractive models and seed a regenerative future
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Project Submission & Selection: 2nd May – 6th June 2025
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This venture wants to test potential solutions to enhance water security in emerging markets. They are looking for solutions that benefit low-income, underserved populations and will select groundbreaking solutions that address one or more of the following areas: increasing water supply, optimising water usage/demand, and strengthening infrastructure.
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The goal of the 4D Digital Rights by Design Call is to provide support for the developments or initiatives focused on action in terms of digital commons and rights, such as technological developments, protocols to change institutional and/or general habits, strategic litigation, legislative amendments and advocacy.
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This event is open to any individual, organisation, or institution interested in learning about ground-breaking experiences regarding democratic digitalization. The spotlight will be on people’s digital sovereignty. Speakers will discuss digital rights and their violations and how to apply changes and solutions to avoid them.
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Deadline: 28th October 2025
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Innovation Knowledge Highlights 🤓
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1) AI blog series – Why open-source models matter
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Our first article in the #AISeries demystifies how AI works and makes a compelling case for why open-source models could create more equitable, transparent technology for everyone.
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2) Understanding the New Technological Context for Craftsmanship: A Study
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The European Crafts Alliance’s new report explores how traditional craftspeople across Europe are embracing (or sometimes choosing not to embrace) digital design and fabrication technologies.
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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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