mAkE is a transdisciplinary project from EU and Africa that will enable Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs), specifically makerspaces, to maximize their potential as spaces for digital innovation, skill building, job creation and contact points for global collaboration networks. The project will address key issues from financial stability, enabling policies and to skill building and technical capacity development for makerspaces in order for them to become key connectors for local smart production, creating economies of scope and sustainable contributions to the digitization of different sectors and communities in Africa and Europe.

Fab Lab Barcelona / IAAC leads the communication package of the project, where our core objective is to raise awareness of the mAkE project, by developing sustainable dissemination of project outputs and findings by activating global networks and developing a clear project identity. This objective is achieved through the communication, dissemination and outreach (CDO) strategy common to all the partners in the consortium with the aim of maximizing the project impacts.

The challenge of mAkE is to strengthen existing networks of makerspaces as key drivers for local digital innovation in Africa and establish mutual and sustainable networks with European DIHs. The goal is to equip African and European hardware DIHs and their members with the relevant skills, infrastructure and regulations in order to support local businesses and start-ups in implementing local digital innovations.

By providing makerspaces, entrepreneurial makers, SME and start-ups with educational resources, access to networks and new open standards and tools, mAkE enables DIHs build equitable businesses, train their members in employment relevant digital skills, offer their machines and services creating new revenue streams and networks of local, smart production, as well as foster cooperation between European and African DIHs and other relevant stakeholders.

The wider networks of mAkE represents the largest network of makerspaces in the world and includes hundreds of makerspaces and grassroot or community DIHs around the world. Target audiences in African and European countries will be the core target group, but also be on a global scale due to the global reach of the consortium member networks. Among the mAkE audience we will have general public, makers, designers and engineers, private corporations and industry, investors and funders, policy makers, scientists and researchers, press, citizens (potential, future members of the DIH community), makerspace, Fab Lab, DIH leaders, schools, scientists and researchers, entrepreneurs, private corporations, industry, local government.

Among the mAkE resources, we can highlight the Venture Building Handbook, the Business Models Catalogue, the Common Policy Agenda, the MOOC or the Open Makerspace Toolkit.

This project has received funding from the European Horizon 2020 programme under grant agreement No 101016858)