Project description
Connecting EU and Africa innovation and start-up ecosystems
The EU-funded mAkE project promotes cooperation and strategic partnership with countries in Africa to support the strengthening of existing digital innovation hubs (DIHs) in Africa and Europe. Its overall aim is to facilitate the collaboration between EU and African DIHs to strengthen a common EU-Africa innovation and start-up ecosystem. mAkE focuses on connecting makerspaces, which are important actors in the local digital innovation ecosystems, and global collaboration networks that complement current efforts in digitisation in Europe and Africa. These are also key for local production, product innovation and development. The project will organise capacity-building activities to equip African makerspaces and their attached local SMEs and digital start-ups, and offer incubation, mentoring and matching activities to drive digital transformation.
Objective
This proposal addresses a missing link in the current landscape of digital innovation for manufacturing. mAkE focuses on makerspaces as key players of local digital innovation ecosystems and global collaboration networks, which are complementary to the current efforts in digitisation in Europe and central for localised production in Africa. mAkE will build on existing networks of makerspaces as key drivers for local digital innovation in Africa and establish mutual relationships and sustainable networks with European DIHs. Via capacity building activities mAkE will equip African makerspaces and their attached local SMEs and digital start-ups with entrepreneurial and digital skills, and offer concrete incubation, mentoring and matching activities to drive digital transformation. mAkE’s matching and networking activities will link local digital innovators in makerspaces with ICT professionals, investors, entrepreneurs, researchers and policy makers, fostering investments in African digital innovations and creating a sustainable and strengthened EU-Africa start-up ecosystem. mAkE has chosen to work with makerspaces because of the important and growing role they play in the digital innovation ecosystem, particularly in Africa where manufacturing has been identified as a critical growth area to bring more jobs to the African economy. The aim of mAkE is to reinforce cooperation and strategic partnership with selected countries in Africa to support the strengthening of existing digital innovation hubs (DIHs) in Africa and to facilitate the collaboration between EU and African DIHs in order to strengthen a common EU-Africa innovation and start-up ecosystem. This project will focus on connecting Makerspaces, Fablabs, Open Hardware and Software Innovation that perform Critical & Sustainable Making committing to Open Source, Open Science, Open Data; we will address Policy issues and Frugal Innovation related to the activities, products and processes emerging in these spaces.
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IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
1150 Wien
Austria