Excited to announce that our MAKERTHON OWL OPEN.PUBLIC.PLACES was accepted for the first global „Virtually Maker Faire“!

Project Description

The Covid crisis has shown that fundamental socio-economic challenges can only be adressed if all elements of a local, regional or national innovation ecosystem work together in more open, participartory and creative ways. While technical solutions provide answers to technology-related questions, social innovation, art and inclusive participatory co-creation processes are needed to answer individual and societal challenges. The Maker movement is very strong in the technological areas, but the community still has a strong potential in the fields of social innovation, diversity and inclusivity. In our co-creative SOCIAL MAKERTHON: OPEN.PUBLIC.PLACES from 5-7 June 2020, we (4 institutions from science, economy, policy making and society) will invite creative minds from all generations and backgrounds to design and prototype innovative ideas for streets and squares, churches and museums, parks and playgrounds in times of Corona – and beyond. For the first time, we will experiment with a hybrid event format, uniting hands-on experimentation with online-meetings. A strong focus will be on inviting female makers to be part of the innovation process, and to encourage artistic or musical interventions as well as technological solutions. The MAKERTHON is located in a rather rural area – involving two larger university towns plus several smaller villages and neighborhoods. We will reflect and share the outcomes of this process to see whether this model of participation, and the involvement of the „maker“ spirit in urban innovation processes, will increase innovation in regions – in Europe and across the world.

What are the problems you aim to help solve with this project?:
In times of social distancing, people across the world still want to use streets and squares, parks and other open spaces to meet and cherish urban vibes and enjoy collective experiences. With our MAKERTHON OPEN.PUBLIC.PLACES we aim to „conquer“ public spaces in cities and villages while infusing the „Maker Spirit“ into local innovation processes. We will invite people from different genders and areas – universities, innovators, startups, citizens, artists, musucians, families, designers, policy makers, to think abour their urban environments and come up with new ideas on how to use them.

What are some of the major challenges you have encountered and how did you address them?:
One of the major challenges we are still trying to solve is to combine real prototyping with hands-on experiences in an event which cannot bring together a large group of people. We will do this by having makers on the ground in different areas of the region – in parks, churches, squares, but also in FabLabs and and other innovation places, who will produce videos, report live from the venues and prototype first ideas. We will encourage all participants to use LEGO, playmobil, playdow and other gamestorming materials to illustrate their ideas during the MAKERTHON.

Website with further information: