Home Research Maker Movement

Maker Movement

Open AIR has been researching the innovation practices of African maker communities since 2016. We see the maker movement as a key engine for open collaborative innovation and enterprise development on the continent, and our exploration of the maker movement intersects with our work in the High Technology Hubs research theme. Open AIR’s first research engagements with African makers took place in 2016-17, when we documented The Maker Movement in Gauteng Province, South Africa and conducted A Scan of South Africa’s Maker Movement.

Our work in this area includes elements of knowledge co-production action research, through which we engage with maker communities not as mere research subjects, but also as collaborators who help guide the direction and content of the research findings. Emblematic of this action-research approach was Open AIR’s collaboration with the South African Maker Collective in convening the South African Maker Movement Workshop in Pretoria in March 2017. Our explorations of the continent’s maker communities then moved beyond South Africa to include studies of The Maker Movement Across North Africa and fabrication laboratories (fablabs) in Burkina Faso, Cameroon and Senegal.

Journal articles published by Open AIR researchers in this research area include Armstrong and Kraemer-Mbula’s 2022 article, Value Creation and Socioeconomic Inclusion in South African Maker Communities, and the 2018 article by Armstrong, de Beer, Kraemer-Mbula and Ellis entitled Institutionalisation and Informal Innovation in South African Maker Communities. From 2022 to 2025, Open AIR, through its University of Cape Town hub, was part of the consortium that delivered the EU Horizon 2020-funded African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) Project. The mAkE Project supported the work of makerspaces in several African and European countries, developed a Map of Machinery, and published an Open Catalogue of Business Models (OCBM), a set of Recommendations for Policy Makers, and a Venture Building Handbook.

Policy Support for Makerspaces in Africa and Europe: mAkE Project Publishes...

By Chris Armstrong The EU Horizon 2020-funded African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) Project, in which Open AIR is an African partner, has published its flagship policy...

Makerspace Sustainability: mAkE Project Launches Open Catalogue of Business Models (OCBM)

By Chris Armstrong The African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) Project, of which Open AIR is part, has launched its Open Catalogue of Business Models (OCBM)....

Building Startup Resilience in Ghana Through Policy Support

By Yaw Adu-Gyamfi Startups in Ghana struggle with access to technical support services, sustainable market linkages and funding to keep them afloat in the initial...

African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) Project Completes Year 1

By Chris Armstrong The EU-funded African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) project has now completed its first year of operation. Open AIR is one of several...

Opportunities from Côte d’Ivoire on Plastic Waste and the Blue Economy

By Ahou Rachel Koumi In 2019, my niece and I enjoyed a two-day outing to the famous beaches of Assinie, in Côte d'Ivoire. I have fond...

Launch of African European Maker Innovation Ecosystem (mAkE) Project

By Chris Armstrong Over the course of two days last week, 16-17 February, I and Open AIR colleague Nan Warner participated in the online "Kick-off...

A Reflection on the Gendered Perspectives of the Innovation Paradigm in...

By Ghati Nyehita My ongoing Open AIR, Queen Elizabeth Scholar - Advanced Scholars (QES-AS), research project discusses the extent which South Africa’s copyright and design laws...

Innovation ouverte en contexte académique à Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire

Par Ahou Rachel KOUMI Ce blogpost est la deuxième partie d’une série de deux blogs sur les Journées de l’Innovation en Contexte Académique réalisées du 19...

Collaboration Nord-Sud et présentation du processus de l’innovation au système de...

for Rachel's blog post
par Ahou Rachel KOUMI Ce blogpost est la première partie d’une série de deux blogs sur les Journées de l’Innovation en Contexte Académique réalisées du 19...

Contributions des markers d’ici et d’ailleurs à la lutte contre la...

Par Ahou Rachel Koumi et Thomas Hervé Mboa Nkoudou Ceci constitue la deuxième partie d’une série de trois. Pour la première partie, cliquez ici. La...