GIG wins mAkE!

GIG wins mAkE!

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
GIG is celebrating as we have received confirmation from the European Commission that our project mAkE will receive funding from the Horizon grant programme and we can start implementation in February 2022. This is an amazing opportunity to advance decentralised production systems between African and European makerspaces as mAkE will create a joint ecosystem with and for European and African hubs. Over the course of three years, mAkE will:  create a distributed manufacturing network of makerspaces across Africa. Strengthening innovation ecosystems for digital hardware startups and initiatives at the local level, nationally and on a pan-African level.  equip makerspaces with necessary resources to target critical development issues and create meaningful, impact oriented innovations, including their capacity to build impact oriented, climate relevant, technologies and solutions thereby supporting the digitalisation of traditional sectors in Africa.  support the creation of new business models for African hardware start-ups and provide business training opportunities, thereby enhancing entrepreneurial and innovation skills of makers and hardware start-ups.  foster the development...
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News from Instituto Procomum – May 2021

News from Instituto Procomum – May 2021

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
Publication discusses the role of art in the crisis (UN)Farm: The End Of The World As We Know is a publication that compiles the thinking of 15 artists, activists and commoners from Brazil around communities, politics, aesthetics and imagination. The Cycle was based on the thoughts of Brazilian artists such as Ailton Krenak, Denise Ferreira da Silva, Eduardo Viveiros de Castro and Débora Danowski, whose works approached the concept of the end of the world in different ways.The participants in the conversation cycle were invited to produce texts with reflections on the topic., which can be read and downloaded for free in its online version. https://issuu.com/institutoprocomum/docs/ip_desfazenda-en-v1 Eight citizen innovation actions and ideas for climate change To support communities, economies and the environment to adapt to the impacts caused by climate change, the Instituto Procomum and the British Council Brazil launched this year the second edition of Climate Change LAB. Among them, it is worth mentioning the construction of the Guarani Culture House and Community Kitchen in...
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Olabi launches a project to empower and engage seniors through technology.

Olabi launches a project to empower and engage seniors through technology.

By Mugethi GitauNo Comments
In May of this year, Olabi held the second edition of "Aprenda com uma avó". The project was created in 2020 to be exclusively face-to-face, but its activities were adapted to a 100% digital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic, with a proposal for people over 60 to offer classes on varied knowledge to a wide audience. The idea is to build a space that connects older people who want to transmit knowledge through digital tools in online classes, promoting a meeting of different generations, valuing the knowledge accumulated in our society, and bringing a reflection about the aging of the population. In the process of assembling their content, the seniors learn more about new technologies, expanding their digital literacy. To deal with this matter, the project was divided into two stages: the first is digital training for the elderly, which provides classes on several digital tools, such as Zoom, presentation techniques, narrative and social networks, taught by selected monitors in a...
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#BorgaLife: Our Innovators and Migration project is coming to a close

#BorgaLife: Our Innovators and Migration project is coming to a close

By Theresa FendNo Comments
Over the course of the past six months we implemented our project “Young Innovators: Using Digital Media to inform about Regular and Irregular Migration Issues”. Together with our partner organisations Kumasi Hive, Impact Hub Accra and Wikimedia Ghana User Group and with the support of the Federal Foreign Office of Germany, we aimed at improving the information base on business and knowledge exchange related travel for young Innovators. Globally about 28.2 million international migrants are aged 15 to 24 and live outside their birth country for various reasons (United Nations, 2017) and the issues of innovation, technology and migration are mentioned in 9 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), reflecting their significance in economic development and advancing people’s lives (IOM, 2018). Young people’s migration has a crucial role in fostering innovation. Their movements does not only improve their personal potential and capabilities, but contribute to creating opportunities for those around them (UN Development Program, 2009), bringing knowledge and new...
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i4Policy Task Force Meeting

i4Policy Task Force Meeting

By Theresa FendNo Comments
After the convention of hubs organized last year by i4Policy, during which innovation community leaders from across Africa co-created the Africa Innovation Policy Manifesto, the first meeting of the Africa Innovation Policy Task Force took place at Impact Hub Kigali in Rwanda.  i4Policy is a pan-African movement gathering over 140 Innovation Hubs from 43 African countries. The 21 members of the Task Force include several GIG members: Sheila Birgen of iHub, Kenya; Markos Lemma of iceaddis, Ethiopia; and, Jaiksana Soro of Platform Africa, South Sudan & Uganda. Jon Stever of The Office & Impact Hub Kigali in Rwanda hosted the meeting and convened the task force as lead of the i4Policy secretariat. I was invited to take part in both the 2018 and 2019 events as an observer - and I did observe history in the making! https://twitter.com/i4policy/status/1127263908551692290 After three intense and long days of co-creation to update the Manifesto (one evening ended after 3am!), the Task Force presented a new outline of...
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Edukits: Merging 3D Printing and Education

Edukits: Merging 3D Printing and Education

By Theresa FendNo Comments
‘Education is the most powerful tool that can be used to change the world’ — Nelson Mandela The Bridge the Gap training program is an ongoing initiative that was started by Kumasi Hive in partnership with GIZ (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit), Innovation Factory and e- skills for Girls. The Bridge the Gap program addresses the issue of the gender gap in the technology space. The program trained 60 girls in web development and 3D printing in the first phase, which lasted for one month. We are currently implementing the second phase of the program: the business incubation and internship phase. In this cycle, 10 selected teams are being introduced to global perspectives on leadership and entrepreneurship, the world of business and design, issues that may arise in terms of user experience and how to resolve such problems. They have been provided with the tools and a makerspace where these teams are designing and building prototypes of their products. This week, we are focusing on one of the teams, Edukits,...
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How Ghana’s Maker-Movement is driving young innovators

How Ghana’s Maker-Movement is driving young innovators

By Zen EditorNo Comments
Last week, pan-African journalist Lee Kasumba stopped by Kumasi Hive for an interview with Jorge Appiah.  Excerpt What started out as a community of makers, innovators and entrepreneurs has quickly grown into the biggest Maker Movement in Ghana. Heading this movement is Kumasi Hive – a tech innovation hub that supports entrepreneurs in the process of rapidly prototyping their ideas, developing product solutions for critical challenges and, providing support. One of the challenge faced by 2% of Ghana’s high schools – was access to laboratories and the various resources required for practicing science. To address this particular challenge, one of the start-ups in Kumasi Hive’s network has developed an innovative product called the Science Lab in a Box – which is a low-cost mobile lab for students. […]   Read the whole story at 702.co.za/articles/304179/maker-movement-driving-innovation-in-ghana and watch Lee's full interview with Jorge Appiah: ...
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Meet the new headquarters of LABxS (Lab Santista)

Meet the new headquarters of LABxS (Lab Santista)

By Zen EditorNo Comments
  [embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6StowipH1g[/embedyt] Procomum Institute, one of our GIG associates in Brazil, present the headquarters of LABxS, Lab Santista, the citizen laboratory that is being implemented by them and that articulates a network of people, initiatives and infrastructures to promote the commons in the Baixada Santista region, southeast of Brazil. We are calling  to come together to build this story, so send us ideas for interventions, projects, opinions, money, mistakes and lessons, or even if you just want to talk: - if you are an architect or urban planner or would just like to send intervention ideas so that the space ethically and aesthetically translates the spirit of a cultural center focused on the commons; - if you are an artist, a doer, a curious mind and want to think of some project in here; if you would like to financially support the lab or some specific project; - if you are just a meddler and would like to send your opinions; - if you are part of a...
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‘STARTUPS OF ALEX’ is calling all startups in Alexandria, Egypt

‘STARTUPS OF ALEX’ is calling all startups in Alexandria, Egypt

By Zen EditorNo Comments
STARTUPS OF ALEX is the 1st Alexandrian incubator launched by icealex and funded by the Academy for Scientific Research and Technology under the program of “Intilac National Incubators”. Startups of Alex aims to connect the different components of the Alexandrian startup ecosystem together, including the startups themselves, mentors, investors, partners and supporting organizations such as co-working spaces and innovation & technology hubs. We believe that Alexandrian entrepreneurs have great ideas and the capability to create their own businesses. Some of them know their way and others face some obstacles, so we gather to share knowledge and help each other. The call for the 1st incubation cycle has been launched on the 1st June, whilst the 1st cycle bootcamp and kick off shall be during the beginning of August 2017. The cycle’s duration is between 4 – 6 months; i.e. from August 2017 until January 2018.   Why Join Us? As part of our incubation program, you will be provided with all of these services,...
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