Field Ready launches a new makerspace in Iraq!

Field Ready launches a new makerspace in Iraq!

This month GIG member Field Ready announced the launch of a brand-new makerspace in Erbil, Kurdistan Region of Iraq! Field Ready: Erbil Makerspace will form part of a growing network of innovation and co-working spaces across Iraq. Supported by German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH, it will give Field Ready’s existing Iraq program a well-equipped, permanent base to support work across the country. Based in Re:Coded House, a vibrant co-working space run by Re:Coded, a long-time associate of Field Ready, the makerspace will: - Run courses and events in ‘making’ related topics, - Offer an open space where members of Re:Coded House’s community can access physical resources and the support of staff to realize their own projects, or - Provide services to the public, business and NGOs who wish to develop and make products or host tailored training courses. The makerspace is equipped with 3D printers (plastic and rubber),...
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Calculative Making: The Fear of Failure in Kenya’s Makerspaces

Calculative Making: The Fear of Failure in Kenya’s Makerspaces

When I first entered a makerspace in Nairobi in 2016, I was surprised that most people were sitting in front of their computers. My imagination of a messy makerspace where everyone tinkers with 3D printers and materials to build clumsy prototypes was disenchanted. A makerspace is a collaborative workshop equipped with tools and machines to process various materials. Contrary to the origins of makerspaces in hacker and do-it-yourself cultures that are aimed at an anti-capitalist appropriation of mass-produced goods (Maxigas 2012), the contemporary global phenomenon of emerging makerspaces focuses predominantly on entrepreneurial workplaces providing access to digital fabrication machinery like laser cutters, Computer Numerical Control (CNC) machines, and 3D printers. Nairobi’s first makerspace – the epicenter of my three-year ethnographic research - joins the chorus of celebrating digital machinery for the development of cutting-edge prototypes to attract investment. On a state level, developing and innovating technology is seen as a path-breaking driver of national development in Kenya and as a historic moment for...
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Edukits: Merging 3D Printing and Education

Edukits: Merging 3D Printing and Education

‘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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GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

GIG @ re:publica Accra 2018

re:publica Accra, the very first re:publica conference held in Africa, took place on 14-15th December 2018 at the Trade Centre in Accra, Ghana and was attended by over 2000 people from 32 countries. 1st @republica in Africa was a blast. More than 2000 attendees came to Ghana to debate the rising digital society. 274 spokesperson, 110 Hours of program. It was hot, exciting and mindblowing. I learned so much about Africa! Thank you everyone who was involved doing it. #RpAccra pic.twitter.com/RcBpAHSSYV — netzpolitik (@netzpolitik) December 15, 2018 GIG was a supporter for this African edition of re:publica. Many GIGers were among the curation & organizing team as well as speakers. GIG also  hosted the makerspace through Kumasi Hive. Kudzai M Mubaiwa (iZone Hub, Zimbabwe), Nanjira Sambuli (World Wide Web Foundation, Kenya) and Jorge Appiah (Kumasi Hive, Ghana) curated the tracks around the topics ‘Business and Innovation’, Politics and Society’ and ‘Science and Education’. Nanjira Sambuli gave the first keynote speech right after the opening...
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Tell us what you think: Humanitarian Maker Principles

Tell us what you think: Humanitarian Maker Principles

Please give is your feedback on the draft principles to guide Humanitarian Makers in their work: humanitarianmakers.org/.../HM-Principles-Action-Requested Over the past several months, Humanitarian Makers have been developing 8 principles to guide humanitarian making. The process has been to move forward a draft created at the Fab12 conference, to integrate reputable humanitarian and industry principles into the draft and then to invite input from humanitarians and makers to further refine the draft. Now we are opening up the discussion with the wider humanitarian making ecosystem and invite GIG members and friends to contribute. Please provide feedback on the principles and/or share principles that guide your efforts by the 19th October. Be honest and direct as it is our hope that these principles will be a relevant resource for people around the world engaged in humanitarian making. Also, if you have examples of statements of principles that you think would be relevant to our work, please include them in your submission too!! Link to the humanitarian makers principles feedback...
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How Ghana’s Maker-Movement is driving young innovators

How Ghana’s Maker-Movement is driving young innovators

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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GIG @ re:publica 2018

GIG @ re:publica 2018

“We are what we create together” re:publica #18 is happening again and we are excited that a vibrant, diverse community of innovators joined for the 6th Global Innovation Gathering (GIG). The GIG network brings perspectives from across the world to Europe’s leading conference on the Internet and society. Every year since 2013 the Global Innovation Gathering hosts a track and since 2015 a pop-up Makerspace to showcase innovations from all over the world. In the past couple of days over 85 people from 30 different countries arrived in Berlin to meet up, share sparkles, experiences, design projects and prepare for re:publica with speakers representing projects in Kenya, Pakistan, Nepal, South Sudan, India, Brazil, Colombia and many more. You find many of our sessions in the Tech for Good and also in the tracks such as Blockchain, Fe:male Digital Footprint, or re:health. We will be reporting on how the unconnected are connecting themselves, how Zero Net Neutrality unintentionally accelerated Fake News, tell...
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Building the Africa Open Science Hardware community

Building the Africa Open Science Hardware community

Our GIG colleagues Vicy, Jaiksana, Stephen and Jo made their way to Kumasi, Ghana to attend the very first Open Science Hardware summit in Africa: AfircaOSH. The event is being hosted at Kumasi Hive. AfricaOSH is a gathering for everyone interested in Open Science & Hardware as a means to achieve locally adapted, culturally relevant, technologically and economically feasible production in Africa; as an alternative to traditional Intellectual Property (IP) and closed knowledge systems; and to understand its potential for development and collaboration across Africa, especially by reducing barriers to entry in education, research and manufacturing. Participants will include but are not limited to makers, hackers, practitioners and researchers in science, technology, engineering, government officials, private sector players and civil society across the African continent, the global South and the World. The GlobalGathering for Open Science Hardware recently launched the Global Open Science Hardware Roadmap: Making Open Science Hardware ubiquitous by 2025. If you are also working towards Open Hardware in general or more specifically with research...
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Nave à Vela, Brazil

Nave à Vela, Brazil

In 2014, in order to find a sustainable business model for their Innovation Center in the favela Vila Nova Esperança, Caos Focado started a course to teach Social Innovation with a part of the revenues going towards keeping the center running. After the adoption of some schools with this Course, we realized a huge demand to foster innovation at Brazilian schools using maker-spaces. So, we created an institution called Nave à Vela which developed a curriculum to elementary and high schools that engages social emotional learning (soft skills) using engineering, design and entrepreneurship tools inside of makerspaces in the schools. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cTohev8NJtg Currently, we have provided our services to more than 20 schools impacting more than 3 thousand students in 2017. Our goal for 2018 is to achieve 15.000 students....
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