RE-DISTRIBUTED MANUFACTURING NETWORKS | THE ROLE OF MAKESPACES

Lead Research Organisation: Royal College of Art
Department Name: School of Design

Abstract

The main aim of the Network is to develop a shared multi-disciplinary vision and research agenda for the the role of makespaces in re-distributed manufacturing. A makespace is a catch-all term for an open access community fabrication workshop. It encompasses Fab Labs, Hackerspaces, Makerspaces and other facilities that can broadly be described as spaces with a suite of fabrication tools and technologies openly accessible for use by a community. The cross-disciplinary network of academic, industrial and policy experts will establish the future place, purpose and philosophy of makespaces within re-distributed manufacturing and investigate key drivers in enabling sustainable re-distributed manufacturing at a grassroots level. Insights will be gained into the opportunities for decentralised manufacturing and product innovation in makespaces, the role of makespaces in local communities and to nearby manufacturing businesses, as part of digital networks and in national and global supply chains. This will initially involve hosting research workshops and public facing discussions with invited experts, conducting research in towns and cities in the UK to map the current and potential interplay between makespaces and manufacturing businesses, waste management companies, education centres, suppliers and retailers. Following this work a set of feasibility studies will be run in order to trial potential opportunities and understand barriers and challenges. These activities together will signpost the research needed to fully explore the role makespaces can play in the future in acting as vital constituent in a rich landscape of re-distributed manufacturing. The Network will publish these research challenges to the wider community.

The network will be co-ordinated by Sharon Baurley at the Royal College of Art, who brings extensive experience of working in academia and collaborative research with industry. The network includes a broad spectrum of academics with expertise in industrial design and manufacturing, materials, standards and regulation of emerging technologies, technology and innovation policy, geographies of innovation and technological change, geographies of creative practice, sustainability and environmental impact, urban policy and regeneration, cities and climate change, waste management systems, new economic and business models enabled by the digital economy, interactive cooperative systems, digital innovation and IT as a utility. The network will also include the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) as well as makespaces from across the UK, micro and SME manufacturing businesses, waste management and recycling companies, software developers, technologists and technology developers and GOs and NGOs with interests in craft, design, innovation and manufacturing.

Planned Impact

We will contribute to the development of a shared multi-disciplinary vision and research agenda for the 'role of makespaces in re-distributed manufacturing'. This vision will be explored at four different levels: At the Makespace level we will identify a vision for the key technologies, people and skills, tools, materials, resources, cultures and methods that are needed in makespaces for them to support redistributed manufacturing and in order to move from linear economy practice to circular economy practice. Key beneficiaries here include citizens, the communities to which they belong, the individuals, groups and organisations involved in the creation and sustainability of makespaces, and the suppliers of technologies, tools, and materials that enable makespaces.
At the Local level we will identify a vision for how makespaces can help their local area with respect to manufacturing and manufacturing business development, and to successfully respond to economic (business generation), social (employment, training, skills), environmental (local manufacturing, supply, waste management), and technological changes. Key beneficiaries will be local businesses, local government, community groups, and individuals exploiting the potential of makespaces.
At the Digital level we will identify a vision for the requirements of a digital network, resources, and tools to network makespaces and others (manufacturers, retailers, suppliers, support networks, investors, educational institutions, research centres, material resources, waste management, communities) in relation to small scale manufacturing within an online community of business, social and marketplace networks. The beneficiaries here will be all stakeholders in makespaces (at both local and national level). The ability to connect makespaces with each other, with businesses, and with tools and technologies, to share resources, opportunities and experience is critical to success.
At the National level we will identify a vision for how government policies and support, national institutions and networks, EU directives, and regional and national businesses and supply chains, can support and enable the 'makespaces in re-distributed manufacturing' model. The successful integration of makespaces into the wider take-up of redistributed manufacturing and the associated industries and businesses will serve to benefit these bodies and organisations through new models for industries, businesses, economic and investment, and quality, regulation and legislation.
We will contribute to the development of a cross-Network vision and research agenda. We will work with the other RDM networks to ensure integration of makespaces into the ways of working of national and multinational industries and service organisations, and in the definition of a research agenda that accelerates this integration.
By its construction and nature the Network will be an inclusive and collaborative body driven by its membership's needs and aspirations. The overall activities, and those of the groups working at the four levels, depend both upon the inputs of members and their uptake of the outputs, be they the overall vision and practice of integrating makespaces into mainstream re-distributed manufacturing, or participating in the future research agenda the Network will produce.
The executive group will lead on the impact activities, with specific investigators taking a lead on identifying the vision and research challenges that relate to their expertise.
Members of the executive group all have track records of working in close collaboration with industry, organisations, policy makers/government, and in the preparation of exhibitions and public engagement material. The RSA will be our principal impact partner, having many conduits - dissemination, industry engagement, public engagement, policy - through which the Network will ensure impact, namely the Makerspace Network, The Great Recovery, City growth Commission.
 
Title New Normal - London Design Festival exhibition 
Description How could products be made in a world beyond mass-production? This exhibition looks at projects that are pioneering new ways of making today; not just one-off items for individuals, but establishing a 'new normal' where manufacturing is redistributed and mass means 'by the masses' not en-masse. A New Normal is an exhibition which asks the question 'Who is making products for a world beyond mass-production?' The participants, many of whom have been incubated by Machines Room, were chosen because they are making the future happen right now: the future where people are engaged in the design and production of their own goods by participating in online customisation and digital manufacture. These are not proposals for a future of manufacturing; each exhibit is a real business and invites the visitor to actively participate in the manufacturing process, such as laser cutting their own jacket, or parametrically designing a table for their home. A New Normal guides you through this new normal way of life, a portrait of how it is to interact with these products and processes as part of an everyday, lived experience. It speaks from the perspective of the user, bringing the people into these new ways of designing and manufacturing, where mass means by the masses, not en-masse. Contributors are as follows: Kobble Furniture https://kobblefurniture.co.uk/ Animaro is a furniture design studio founded in London by Matt Gilbert in 2016. The manufacture and launch of the CNCd Crane Lamp was enabled by the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and Machines Room's Maker in Residence programme. During LDF the final assembly of lamps will take place on a production line in the exhibition, ready to fulfil Kickstarter pledges. http://www.animarodesign.com/ Disrupt Disability are using parametric design, digital fabrication and distributed manufacture to make customised wheelchairs accessible, affordable and attractive. They have created the first ever modular wheelchair system so wheelwearers can interchange parts and optimise their wheelchair for their body, lifestyle and their environment. They are creating a platform so customers can fit and customise parametric module designs. They are establishing a network of designers and makers, to sell modules on their platform. Born out of a series of hackathons for wheelchair users, designers and makers, Disrupt Disability are making wheelchairs people want to wear. https://www.disruptdisability.org/ Kniterate is a desktop digital knitting machine that brings fashion fabrication into small workshops. It allows designers, artists, illustrators and makers to automatically create custom knitted products and share their work across its platform. Kniterate predicts a world of completely personalised garments which will be embedded in daily life. The machine aims to recover artisanship in fashion manufacturing while bringing modernity to its users. Kniterate was enabled by the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter and Machines Room's Maker in Residence programme. http://www.kniterate.com/ Post Couture is a fashion collective making garments that can be distributed digitally, adapted to different laser cutter specifications, cut locally, and assembled by hand without additional tools, offering an alternative to today's fashion system. They're introducing a new era in the production of sustainable and affordable clothing, operating on open-source principles and using 21st century technology. They are the first fashion label that truly embraces the Maker Movement and the Third Industrial Revolution. http://www.postcouture.cc/ Wonderbots is democratising 3D printing by creating an app that allows people to customise their own robots using a simple swipe action. The app plugs directly into the manufacturing platform 3D Hubs where the customer can then easily get their bot 3D printed, ready to play with at home. http://www.rossatkin.com/wp/ Batch.Works is the 3D printing lab in residence at Machines Room, run by Julien Vaissieres and Dylan Bahnan. Their aim is to manufacture things closer to the individual user - the right thing, at the right quantity, at the right price. After trying to make their own products they realised the normal way of getting things made was a little constraining. Small batch seemed to mean expensive and bespoke whilst big batch meant cheap at 10,000+. To make things in the middle of the city at a small scale, the obvious choice was digital tools. They print for and collaborate with others, making 3D printed consumer products part of people's everyday lives. With their 1mm nozzle they try to print faster; with their auto-print technique they print more easily, and with years of printing experience they print better. https://batch.works/ Smile Plastics is a materials design studio making exquisite handcrafted panels from waste materials. Smile transforms a range of different mass manufacturing waste streams, such as yoghurt pots and plastic bottles, into unique decorative panels for the architecture and design market. Their materials have been used in wide ranging applications, from small products to large scale installations in both residential and commercial premises. https://www.smile-plastics.com/ For the exhibition display Machines Room downloaded the Kanban divide from the open desk online platform. The designer Josh Worley released the divide with the creative commons licence allowing Machines Room to share, use, and build upon a work that Josh created. Machines Room has designed a modular display that after the exhibition will be used to mount folding desks ready for the launch of our new incubator, Cohort. https://www.opendesk.cc/ A New Normal was a collaboration between Machines Room and Distributed Everything, a research group at the Royal College of Art. 
Type Of Art Artistic/Creative Exhibition 
Year Produced 2017 
Impact The New Normal exhibition was part of the Maker Mile District from London Design Festival. It was attended by over 1000 people within the first run, and the exhibition curation and resources are being toured to Berlin with the British Council. Within the exhibition run the exhibition was part of a number of expert delegate tours. In terms of media coverage it's been picked up by the likes of Surface Matter, by Icon magazine and Kickstarter as a don't-miss LDF exhibition, by Global Design Forum, Crafts Council, and All3DP. 
URL https://machinesroom.co.uk/new-normal-wrap-up/
 
Description The most significant achievements of the award: The establishment of a broad ranging network and discourse within and around makespace of the multiple benefits to localised production facilitated by global connectivity and community. Presentation of finding at national and international conferences. This work sought to answer two primary questions 1) What roles will makespaces play in the future of RdM? and 2) What value can be created with makespaces involved in RdM and who will benefit?

RdM: Our team felt that there was something missing or at least unsaid in prior definitions of RdM. That these did not take into account the need to radically reimagine manufacturing in light of the known and significant ecological consequences of contemporary production and consumption. As well as the need and opportunity to calibrate the success criteria of production so that manufacturing positively contributes to the places and communities where it takes place, in so doing redistribute access, agency and value. RdM can be seen as a preferred future state of distributed manufacturing; part of an industrial transition towards industry that is configured to operate within the physical limits of the planet while still enabling people a high quality of life. Below we have correlated the key characteristics of RdM.

1) The use of digital tools and other means of distributed production to reimagine and restructure global production so that it it operates within ecological as well as socially viable boundaries.
2) Locally produced products have comparable quality and resolution to that of a mass produced equivalent. Most products may satisfy niche markets, however production can be scaled across multiple sites to meet higher demand near to where that is.
3) Responsive to local variables such as material availability, resource custody infrastructure (recycling, fix and repair, etc), tariffs, taxation and regulation as well as local demand. These variables would together influence how a product is made: what materials are used and how it fits with local systems and services. Some local variables may well fluctuate and therefore RdM would need flexible supply networks to provide materials, parts and services rather than supply chains.Participation and personalisation is enabled by low barriers to entry. This includes:
> Lower financial barriers (access to production tools or production facilities at affordable / low cost or free)
> Lower market barriers (allowing designers to put their designs in front of customers for low or no upfront fees)
> Low information or knowledge barriers (through the use of instructions, guides and/or simplified designs)
> Lower design barriers (through open designs, or through customising tools that factor in impact as well as product variation to allow for informed designing to happen)
4) Enhanced agency and ownership, where products (inc product platforms) are designed and operations run in a way that all those involved in the production of goods stand to benefit and value generated is distributed fairly.
5) Enhanced responsibility, where all those involved in the production of goods act to mitigate the ecological impact of their actions and distributed production is used as a mechanism to be much less impactful than that of mass production.

Makespaces: The feasibility studies revealed the current competencies and vulnerabilities of makespaces as part of the broader manufacturing ecosystem, as well as other gaps in industrial infrastructure necessary to support a redistributed landscape of manufacturing. Makespaces could, and some currently do play the following roles.

Sites of education equipping people with skills for a new manufacturing and design economy. This role requires them to maintain relationships with established traditional educators, able to validate and support boomerang learning of manufacturing and design skills.
As brokers and maintainers of local and global knowledge about manufacturing and supply chains. Acting as repositories of knowledge to enable the incorporation of local variables in to the design and production of distributed manufactured goods. This role requires makerspaces to be both accessible and networked, locally as well as globally.
Sites with material knowledge and the ability to recommend or favour locally available resources, potentially enabling a re-calibration of production towards outcomes that have less environmental impacts. This role requires not just tools for material validation, but also practices and cultures to support knowledge creation and dissemination.
Incubators and testbeds of RDM practice and in so doing they are co-constructucting RDM as a concept and practice. However, to fulfil this role will require makespaces to evolve and adapt as their membership needs, to make sure they can support both the production and fulfilment of customer demand.
Nodes within wider networks able to use factory waste as a resource for new product creation. This role is more impactful with makerspaces as incubators of new product businesses, able to syphon from waste streams or develop new approaches that recalibrate and frame how industry or the consumer/producer relationship works.

Makespaces as they currently are, are incredibly financially vulnerable. There is not one solid business model that can be replicated which has proven to be successful without the need of either private, corporate or local, regional or government funding. Many spaces that looked resilient and had diverse revenue streams at the start of the Future Makespaces project have subsequently closed or are due to close. This is primarily due to the fact that they are experiments; created by those who could foresee, and through running them evidence, their ability to create and amplify social, cultural and civic value but who struggled to monetise this or secure long term backing. From the spaces that were involved in both the feasibility studies and cross cutting research, we have clear evidence that makerspaces do enable localised design, development and production. With secure financial models that see them as civic assets / infrastructure and fund them accordingly, makespaces can play an important role in fostering manufacturing which is considerate of the places manufacturing happens, the places where goods are used and the places these items reside once they end their use life.

Design for RdM: Designing for redistributed manufacturing is an applied challenge that requires new aptitudes', awareness and skills. To enable RdM as a design and distribution strategy to scale and become the new normal we need to establish;

1) ways of 'knowing' and capturing data on existing production infrastructure and material availability in a given locality
2) ways of integrating and optimising existing infrastructure to allow for the an RDM approach across a range of product types
3) designed experiences around purchasing and stewardship of emerging RDM product types and new user literacies.
4) clear and evidenced metrics on the differing consequences of these approaches & distributions.

Localised circular economies: Work conducted during the feasibility studies and cross cutting work revealed that although there is a desire from some to make 'sustainable' products the reality is that few designers and makers are aware of how to do this in practice. For the circular economy to be an economy that is equal and balanced for all scales of enterprise, all those designing and making products at whatever volume need to be empowered and enabled to make the best decisions possible. However there is a significant gap in material knowledge and few no or low cost resources and tools available that enable people to compare materials options that also factor in contextual information, such as location or recycling infrastructure etc.

Future research: Analysis of cross-cutting research reveals that in the process of redistributing how and where production happens, there is also a redistribution of the role and act of designing, personal agency, material decision making, labour, risk, responsibility and consequence.
Exploitation Route Creative Economy: Informing and enable those considering lower impact and more localised production, through the demonstration of exemplar projects. Demonstration of the roles that makespaces can play and the value they can foster in enabling localised making networks.

Manufacturing: Informing those engaged in design for distributed manufacturing to better evidence social, cultural and educational benefits of localised production within or connected to open fabrication workshops. Demonstrate that while distributed manufacturing in makespaces is currently informal and disjointed there is a growing desire and investment of both a human and financial capital into new forms of enterprise that brings agency and choice to both consumers and local producers.

Government: Informing local and national government policy on vocational learning and training, as well as later life re-education. Specifically looking to makespaces as key pieces of local infrastructure that could enable RdM and localised circular economy awareness and practice.
Sectors Creative Economy,Government, Democracy and Justice,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
 
Description At the close of the Redistributed Manufacturing - The Role of Makespaces (Future Makespaces) the Network had a core membership of 103 that can evidence 31 academics, 58 companies, of whom 19 are makerspaces and 18 are manufacturers or product design companies. Their subject specialisms include; sustainable design, engineering, IoT, digital fabrication, manufacturing networks, peer to peer networks, user experience, service design, product design, distributed ledgers, software, design for manufacture, circular economy and industrial symbiosis. Our associate membership of 96 is made up of individuals, companies and institutions that have participated in the symposiums, submitted feasibility studies we did not to fund, interviewees and case studies or experts who otherwise engaged with the research and added their input. Our impact membership of 776 consists of those individuals, companies or institutions that have signed up to remain informed of our work across our social media platforms (697 followers in total with 557 not already core or associate members) and newsletters (420 subscribers of whom 219 are solely impact members). 4 two day symposiums were hosted in 4 locations, with 50 expert speakers and 161 participants from both industry and academia. These took place over the two years of the project and at each findings and insights from previous stages of the project were shared. 48 institutions and organisations submitted study proposals (some collaboratively) and 5 x £25k feasibility studies were commissioned. In addition 3 expert roundtables were held with 24 experts from both academia and industry. The round tables introduced makespaces and their futures into conversations about transition design, platform cooperativism, and the politics of global supply and demand. 5 targeted mini studies were undertaken with the RCA team and in collaboration with external partners. To date this work has produced 14 publications and continues to inform the work of teams that conducted feasibility studies. In addition the findings from the project directly lead to non academic outputs, in particular the forming and curation of A New Normal, an exhibition that explored Redistributed Manufacturing in the context of one site (Machines Room, London) showcased during London Design Festival 2017. The findings as they emerged have informed: participants to the network events, our non-academic feasibility study partners and their networks, the makespaces that were directly involved in the studies and cross cutting research as well as their memberships. Finding from the project led to a collaboration with Machines Room to launch an exhibition of exemplar RdM projects that arose from or connected to a specific makespace. The exhibition titled A New Normal - ran for 10 days during London Design Festival (LDF), September 2017. LDF has an international audience the exhibition led to reviews in national and international press as well as visits by delegations including The British Council. The exhibition is currently being reimagined for presentation during Make City Festival Berlin, 2018 in collaboration with the British Council. Finding from the project were also presented at Making Futures (http://makingfutures.plymouthart.ac.uk/) in 2016 and 2017. Finding from the project are informing strategy and future work of the Fab City Collective (http://fab.city/), an international network of designers, makers and researchers. Dissemination of findings were also presented to a global audience involved in the Fab Lab network at Fab12 in Shenzhen, China in 2016 (http://fab12.fabevent.org/) and Fab13 in Santiago de Chile in 2017 (http://fab13.fabevent.org/). Information, activity and findings from the project remain available online at http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk, http://redistribute.it
First Year Of Impact 2015
Sector Creative Economy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology
Impact Types Cultural
 
Description Participated in an expert roundtable foundational to the RSA 'Ours to Master' report
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Participation in a guidance/advisory committee
Impact Participated in an expert roundtable foundational to the RSA 'Ours to Master' report. Influencing the format of the research and the resulting report and summit.
URL https://www.thersa.org/discover/publications-and-articles/reports/ours-to-master/
 
Description Presentation to academic visitors from China and Kazakhstan 'Reimagining Education for the Future Of Redistributed Manufacturing'
Geographic Reach Multiple continents/international 
Policy Influence Type Influenced training of practitioners or researchers
 
Description SustainRCA - British Standards Institute - Development of a Circular Economy guidance standard
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Membership of a guideline committee
Impact This impact improved the regulatory environment through the development of a Circular Economy guidance standard - one of the researchers is on the drafting committee.
 
Description SustainRCA - Institute of Mechanical Engineers - IMechE- Head of Transport and Manufacturing and Energy and Environment - professional updates related Circular Economy, Life Cycle design and manufacturing
Geographic Reach National 
Policy Influence Type Contribution to a national consultation/review
 
Description Hello Shenzhen
Amount £34,995 (GBP)
Organisation Arts & Humanities Research Council (AHRC) 
Sector Public
Country United Kingdom
Start 03/2017 
End 10/2017
 
Title Dataset on RE:FORM case study 
Description This dataset records the asynchronous communications of research study participants over a 12 week time period. A variety of methods were used to record all aspects of the case-study. The primary method was an online forum that participants were encouraged to use to communicate with each other and with the project team. Forums have limitations as methods of communication, being impersonal, asynchronous and text-based, but they also have significant strengths, because they can be accessed at any time and place, their asynchronous nature encourages more reflective and considerate dialogue, and a record of conversations is kept and can be revisited (Ellis, 2001). For the purposes of this research, forums were deemed appropriate to replicate real-world asynchronous communication that often takes place between distributed designers and makers. The record of conversations was also identified as an important benefit, because it resulted in a rich data source which could be used to analyse the participant's communications. 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Provided To Others? No  
Impact This dataset has enabled analysis of effective learning in distributed teams for redistributed manufacturing. Once it is fully anonymised it will be shared as a resource for other researchers. 
 
Title NESTA Open dataset of UK Makerspaces 
Description For NESTA we (Andrew Sleigh, Kathleen Stokes, Hannah Stewart) created an open dataset of UK makerspaces. Our goal from the beginning has been to build something useful and useable for makerspaces, researchers, and anyone with a general curiosity. Along the way, we've gathered identifiable data on makerspaces' locations, space, tools and materials, membership and users, amenities and services, external relationships, legal structure and founders, as well as aspirations and challenges. There's also some anonymised data on makerspace turnover, income, expenditure and business rates. - See more at: http://www.nesta.org.uk/blog/top-findings-open-dataset-uk-makerspaces#sthash.I4IISHSk.dpuf 
Type Of Material Database/Collection of data 
Year Produced 2015 
Provided To Others? Yes  
Impact Makerspaces are a open access resource which has grown exponentially over the last decade, they are associated with some rather grand rhetoric around their role in civic and industrial life and there was a poor understanding of the types and range of facilities and aptitudes they possess. As this was the first large scale database with a clearly defined and rigorous method, pursued in an open manner, this dataset has had significant impact, enabling both researchers, policy makers and makerspaces themselves to understand more about the broader makerspace territory and the challenges and successes of a range of types of spaces. The associated user guide to the dataset provided easy access to headline findings and initial analysis through infographics and commentary, whereas the dataset github release has enabled other researchers to build upon and integrate this research into their work. 
URL http://www.nesta.org.uk/uk-makerspaces-data
 
Description Biodiversity Survey of Making & Manufacturing 
Organisation University College London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution This collaboration was commissioned by us following on from the roundtable event with Empire Logistics, we jointly arrived at the methodology and approach, informed by the Bristol/Bath RDM networks work to date. We together discussed the strategic fit of this new data with a range of bodies from across the London region including the EEF, LGA, Crafts Council, RSA, Made Here Now & NESTA. We supported financially the commissioning of SOLOMAN (the society of London manufacturers) to include and map the geographic and economic distributions and activity of product manufacturing companies outside of our own networks and reach. We will undertake data analysis and visualisation within our team, bringing in additional support as is necessary to enable the dataset to be fully anonymised and shared, as well as articulated in a manner that is useful and insightful.
Collaborator Contribution Elizabeth Corbin from UCL leveraged her networks with the makerspace community to ensure 50% of the data collected was by product and manufacturing companies engaging in someway with both makerspaces and manufacturing within the greater London region. She managed the relationship with SOLOMAN, and arranged the majority of the strategic conversations about the positioning of the dataset within the existing manufacturing data landscape.
Impact Dataset and network diagrams articulating and evidencing the roles and relationships of makerspaces within the social sphere and thinking of manufacturers and local communities.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Circular Makespaces 
Organisation Royal College of Art
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution Sustain RCA has undertaken research on behalf of, and alongside the Future Makespaces project, sharing data and insights and delivering a final report as well as associated research tools and datasets.
Impact Report and analysis about makerspace practices and scaling redistributed manufacturing to the benefit of circular economy. Events: ? Open Source Circular Economy Days event in June 2015, Global. ? Open Source Circular Economy - meetup - Berlin Sept 2015, Germany ? Amersfoort Fab Fuse Conference August 2015, Amersfoort, Netherlands. ? DFM summit Makerversity, ? Research Culture Action 1, at RCA (speaker) ? Sustainability in makespacess event October 2015, Machines Room, London, UK. ? Wuthering Bytes Festival of Technology, Hebden Bridge, UK (Speaker) ? Building the Circular Economy into Organisations - Warpit, UCL, London, UK (Speaker) Conferences ? Conference abstract accepted and presented at Making Futures in Plymouth, a second is under review for the Sustainable Design and Manufacturing Conference 2016. ? Sustainability Innovation 2015, Centre for Sustainable Design, 9.11.15 - Included in talk on OpenCircles - Open Design for Sustainable Innovation Professional Networks and Bodies ? Institute of Mechanical Engineers - IMechE- Head of Transport and Manufacturing and Energy and Environment - professional updates related Circular Economy, Life Cycle design and manufacturing ? British Standards Institute - Development of a Circular Economy guidance standard (one of the researchers is on the drafting committee)
Start Year 2015
 
Description Dark Matter of Open Making and Redistributed Manufacturing 
Organisation Dark Matter Laboratories
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution This is a collaborative study with both strategy and delivery undertaken jointly. We have contributed financially to enabling this necessary work on regulation, standards and policy for redistributed manufacturing and open making. We are using our networks and existing relationships to secure insightful interviews and primary data gathering on the 'grey matter' and newly necessary social and legal infrastructure surrounding the transition to a landscape of redistributed manufacturing.
Collaborator Contribution Dark Matter Labs have used their expertise and standing within the design and policy community to undertake high level interviews with experts and pioneering companies who are undertaking business or policy activities relevant to the challenges around standards, regulation and customer protection within the emerging field of RDM.
Impact Diagram on the typologies of impact of redistributed manufacturing
Start Year 2016
 
Description Indie Manufacturing Study 
Organisation DoES Liverpool
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and defining a new model of mid-scale manufacturing.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2015
 
Description Indie Manufacturing Study 
Organisation Liverpool John Moores University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and defining a new model of mid-scale manufacturing.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2015
 
Description Indie Manufacturing Study 
Organisation MCQN Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and defining a new model of mid-scale manufacturing.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2015
 
Description Indie Manufacturing Study 
Organisation UK Makerbelt Association
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and defining a new model of mid-scale manufacturing.
Impact N/A
Start Year 2015
 
Description Make Work Open Work : Future Data in Manufacturing 
Organisation Make Works Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution This project brings together Makeworks and their data with a software development company Open Work and ourselves to find new ways to connect manufacturing and data. We provided funding to enable this collaboration, we manage the terms of reference and also work closely with the lead partners Makeworks to make sense of and test the proposals and options that their research and prototyping suggests.
Collaborator Contribution Make Works are building on their very specific expertise in this area which significantly reduces the research, design and development time. They are working with design collective, Open Work to develop new ways to browse and explore the existing Make Works database.
Impact A range of scenarios for harnessing data to enable redistributed manufacturing and design decision making that can incorporate local manufacturing infrastructure knowledge.
Start Year 2017
 
Description Mass Distribution - a collaboration between Design Products RCA & SPACE10 
Organisation SPACE10
Country Denmark 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution The Future Makespaces Network's research formed the background context for this project.
Collaborator Contribution Contributed insights into the future of retail and connected the team to large global retailer. Invited people internally and externally to attend workshops and presentations to contribute their expertise.
Impact Public facing and internal organisation report in progress and due for publication in May 2017. RCA Students who contributed to the project were successful in applying to British Council funded Hello Shenzhen residencies as a result of their work on the project.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Material Makespaces 
Organisation Fab Lab London
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of how makerspaces can act as sites of material knowledge generation and validation for redistributed manufacturing. This project uses open source hardware and digital networks to generate and capture data about materials. Testing the feasibility of a digital commons of material knowledge and embedding a culture of testing materials and localizing material flows in a makespace. This responds to the critical need in circular economy for access to data on materials and the means to produce it, envisaging that Future Makespaces could have a key role in unlocking data about materials at a local level. This project responds to the opportunity of spaces using locally specific and sustainable material, and the challenges of meeting manufacturing standards and regulations in a redistributed landscape of manufacturing. Hypothesis Linking digital networks to material testing technology in Makespaces can unlock data needed to source and cycle materials for local fabrication. Research Questions Can digital networks linked to open source hardware help makespaces generate and capture data on materials? Can the data generated from these tools help makespaces play a role in enabling more circular material flows?
Impact O1 Fabricate new open source material testing tools in a makespace The team adapted a published open source blueprint for a universal testing machine into a machine that can be fabricated at low cost in a makespace environment. The design and build process took place within university machine labs and Fab Lab London. See accompanying Materials Testing and Electronics and Mechanical Build Process documents. O2 Develop and connect these tools with the help of digital networks The universal testing machine was adapted to make use of open source microcontroller Arduino. The team relied upon digital community networks to adapt the machine software and firmware, demonstrating the importance of open source hardware and digital network connectivity. The finished machine, including hardware, electronics, and software, will be posted on the open source platforms Wevolver (for hardware), and GitHub (for firmware and software). This will allow other makespaces to download the blueprints and fabricate a universal testing machine for their own purposes. As others use and adapt our prototype, these digital platforms will allow us to trace the evolution of the machine, providing an important measure of project impact. O3 using our material testing tool, engage the makespace community in gathering information about a recycled 3D printing material. This objective is addressed in two phases. In Phase One the team ran a preliminary engagement workshop at Fab Lab London, providing a demonstration of the universal testing machine at its present stage of development (software and electronics still in process). The aim of this workshop was to test our motivating hypothesis that tools such as a universal testing machine could fill a well-defined need for information about materials in makespaces, and such information was important to circular economy aims. Phase Two of community engagement is a workshop where users of Fab Lab London will have a chance to test samples of recycled filament on the universal testing machine, discover the properties that can be measured, and discuss the importance of such data. This workshop will be organised upon finalisation of the machine.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Material Makespaces 
Organisation TechforTrade
Department Ethical Filament Foundation
Country Global 
Sector Charity/Non Profit 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of how makerspaces can act as sites of material knowledge generation and validation for redistributed manufacturing. This project uses open source hardware and digital networks to generate and capture data about materials. Testing the feasibility of a digital commons of material knowledge and embedding a culture of testing materials and localizing material flows in a makespace. This responds to the critical need in circular economy for access to data on materials and the means to produce it, envisaging that Future Makespaces could have a key role in unlocking data about materials at a local level. This project responds to the opportunity of spaces using locally specific and sustainable material, and the challenges of meeting manufacturing standards and regulations in a redistributed landscape of manufacturing. Hypothesis Linking digital networks to material testing technology in Makespaces can unlock data needed to source and cycle materials for local fabrication. Research Questions Can digital networks linked to open source hardware help makespaces generate and capture data on materials? Can the data generated from these tools help makespaces play a role in enabling more circular material flows?
Impact O1 Fabricate new open source material testing tools in a makespace The team adapted a published open source blueprint for a universal testing machine into a machine that can be fabricated at low cost in a makespace environment. The design and build process took place within university machine labs and Fab Lab London. See accompanying Materials Testing and Electronics and Mechanical Build Process documents. O2 Develop and connect these tools with the help of digital networks The universal testing machine was adapted to make use of open source microcontroller Arduino. The team relied upon digital community networks to adapt the machine software and firmware, demonstrating the importance of open source hardware and digital network connectivity. The finished machine, including hardware, electronics, and software, will be posted on the open source platforms Wevolver (for hardware), and GitHub (for firmware and software). This will allow other makespaces to download the blueprints and fabricate a universal testing machine for their own purposes. As others use and adapt our prototype, these digital platforms will allow us to trace the evolution of the machine, providing an important measure of project impact. O3 using our material testing tool, engage the makespace community in gathering information about a recycled 3D printing material. This objective is addressed in two phases. In Phase One the team ran a preliminary engagement workshop at Fab Lab London, providing a demonstration of the universal testing machine at its present stage of development (software and electronics still in process). The aim of this workshop was to test our motivating hypothesis that tools such as a universal testing machine could fill a well-defined need for information about materials in makespaces, and such information was important to circular economy aims. Phase Two of community engagement is a workshop where users of Fab Lab London will have a chance to test samples of recycled filament on the universal testing machine, discover the properties that can be measured, and discuss the importance of such data. This workshop will be organised upon finalisation of the machine.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Material Makespaces 
Organisation University of Oxford
Department Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of how makerspaces can act as sites of material knowledge generation and validation for redistributed manufacturing. This project uses open source hardware and digital networks to generate and capture data about materials. Testing the feasibility of a digital commons of material knowledge and embedding a culture of testing materials and localizing material flows in a makespace. This responds to the critical need in circular economy for access to data on materials and the means to produce it, envisaging that Future Makespaces could have a key role in unlocking data about materials at a local level. This project responds to the opportunity of spaces using locally specific and sustainable material, and the challenges of meeting manufacturing standards and regulations in a redistributed landscape of manufacturing. Hypothesis Linking digital networks to material testing technology in Makespaces can unlock data needed to source and cycle materials for local fabrication. Research Questions Can digital networks linked to open source hardware help makespaces generate and capture data on materials? Can the data generated from these tools help makespaces play a role in enabling more circular material flows?
Impact O1 Fabricate new open source material testing tools in a makespace The team adapted a published open source blueprint for a universal testing machine into a machine that can be fabricated at low cost in a makespace environment. The design and build process took place within university machine labs and Fab Lab London. See accompanying Materials Testing and Electronics and Mechanical Build Process documents. O2 Develop and connect these tools with the help of digital networks The universal testing machine was adapted to make use of open source microcontroller Arduino. The team relied upon digital community networks to adapt the machine software and firmware, demonstrating the importance of open source hardware and digital network connectivity. The finished machine, including hardware, electronics, and software, will be posted on the open source platforms Wevolver (for hardware), and GitHub (for firmware and software). This will allow other makespaces to download the blueprints and fabricate a universal testing machine for their own purposes. As others use and adapt our prototype, these digital platforms will allow us to trace the evolution of the machine, providing an important measure of project impact. O3 using our material testing tool, engage the makespace community in gathering information about a recycled 3D printing material. This objective is addressed in two phases. In Phase One the team ran a preliminary engagement workshop at Fab Lab London, providing a demonstration of the universal testing machine at its present stage of development (software and electronics still in process). The aim of this workshop was to test our motivating hypothesis that tools such as a universal testing machine could fill a well-defined need for information about materials in makespaces, and such information was important to circular economy aims. Phase Two of community engagement is a workshop where users of Fab Lab London will have a chance to test samples of recycled filament on the universal testing machine, discover the properties that can be measured, and discuss the importance of such data. This workshop will be organised upon finalisation of the machine.
Start Year 2016
 
Description Material Makespaces 
Organisation Wevolver Ltd
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of how makerspaces can act as sites of material knowledge generation and validation for redistributed manufacturing. This project uses open source hardware and digital networks to generate and capture data about materials. Testing the feasibility of a digital commons of material knowledge and embedding a culture of testing materials and localizing material flows in a makespace. This responds to the critical need in circular economy for access to data on materials and the means to produce it, envisaging that Future Makespaces could have a key role in unlocking data about materials at a local level. This project responds to the opportunity of spaces using locally specific and sustainable material, and the challenges of meeting manufacturing standards and regulations in a redistributed landscape of manufacturing. Hypothesis Linking digital networks to material testing technology in Makespaces can unlock data needed to source and cycle materials for local fabrication. Research Questions Can digital networks linked to open source hardware help makespaces generate and capture data on materials? Can the data generated from these tools help makespaces play a role in enabling more circular material flows?
Impact O1 Fabricate new open source material testing tools in a makespace The team adapted a published open source blueprint for a universal testing machine into a machine that can be fabricated at low cost in a makespace environment. The design and build process took place within university machine labs and Fab Lab London. See accompanying Materials Testing and Electronics and Mechanical Build Process documents. O2 Develop and connect these tools with the help of digital networks The universal testing machine was adapted to make use of open source microcontroller Arduino. The team relied upon digital community networks to adapt the machine software and firmware, demonstrating the importance of open source hardware and digital network connectivity. The finished machine, including hardware, electronics, and software, will be posted on the open source platforms Wevolver (for hardware), and GitHub (for firmware and software). This will allow other makespaces to download the blueprints and fabricate a universal testing machine for their own purposes. As others use and adapt our prototype, these digital platforms will allow us to trace the evolution of the machine, providing an important measure of project impact. O3 using our material testing tool, engage the makespace community in gathering information about a recycled 3D printing material. This objective is addressed in two phases. In Phase One the team ran a preliminary engagement workshop at Fab Lab London, providing a demonstration of the universal testing machine at its present stage of development (software and electronics still in process). The aim of this workshop was to test our motivating hypothesis that tools such as a universal testing machine could fill a well-defined need for information about materials in makespaces, and such information was important to circular economy aims. Phase Two of community engagement is a workshop where users of Fab Lab London will have a chance to test samples of recycled filament on the universal testing machine, discover the properties that can be measured, and discuss the importance of such data. This workshop will be organised upon finalisation of the machine.
Start Year 2016
 
Description RE:FORM Feasibility study 
Organisation MAKLab
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing education for redistributed manufacturing.
Impact A project website has been central to RE:FORM (http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/reform). This has been used to present public information about the project, and link to associated events. This will continue to remain live for the foreseeable future. The project work has so far been disseminated as follows: Conference paper submitted to Design Research and Society (DRS2016, Brighton, UK- awaiting result Feb 2016): Jowers, I.; Gaved, M.; Elliott-Cirigottis, G.; Dallison, D.; Rochead, A.; and Craig, M. 'Communication is not collaboration: observations from a case study in collaborative learning' Paper presented at The Open University's 'Computers and Learning Research Group' annual conference 2015 (Milton Keynes, July 2015): Gaved, M.; Jowers, I.; Elliott-Cirigottis, G.; Dallison, D.; Rochead, A.; and Craig, M. 'Makespaces: distributed design studios for distributed design students?' Presentation to academic visitors from China and Kazakhstan (Open University, Milton Keynes, December 2015) Gaved, M. 'Reimagining Education for the Future Of Redistributed Manufacturing' Engagement with Open University's Open Educational Resources project team (ongoing discussions) following Workshop 2 (regarding Open Badges and other alternative modes of accreditation)
Start Year 2015
 
Description RE:FORM Feasibility study 
Organisation Open University
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing education for redistributed manufacturing.
Impact A project website has been central to RE:FORM (http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/reform). This has been used to present public information about the project, and link to associated events. This will continue to remain live for the foreseeable future. The project work has so far been disseminated as follows: Conference paper submitted to Design Research and Society (DRS2016, Brighton, UK- awaiting result Feb 2016): Jowers, I.; Gaved, M.; Elliott-Cirigottis, G.; Dallison, D.; Rochead, A.; and Craig, M. 'Communication is not collaboration: observations from a case study in collaborative learning' Paper presented at The Open University's 'Computers and Learning Research Group' annual conference 2015 (Milton Keynes, July 2015): Gaved, M.; Jowers, I.; Elliott-Cirigottis, G.; Dallison, D.; Rochead, A.; and Craig, M. 'Makespaces: distributed design studios for distributed design students?' Presentation to academic visitors from China and Kazakhstan (Open University, Milton Keynes, December 2015) Gaved, M. 'Reimagining Education for the Future Of Redistributed Manufacturing' Engagement with Open University's Open Educational Resources project team (ongoing discussions) following Workshop 2 (regarding Open Badges and other alternative modes of accreditation)
Start Year 2015
 
Description Remantle and Make 
Organisation Garden Street Academy
Department Makerspace
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of disruptive innovation around textile manufacturing waste streams for redistributed manufacturing.
Impact still active
Start Year 2016
 
Description Remantle and Make 
Organisation Glasgow School of Art
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of disruptive innovation around textile manufacturing waste streams for redistributed manufacturing.
Impact still active
Start Year 2016
 
Description Remantle and Make 
Organisation Kalopsia Collective
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We hosted the symposium which brought this collaboration together, and held the research call that this project was proposed too. We funded this collaboration and the associated feasibility study and provide the structure and collaboration agreements that have formalised it. We work alongside the collaboration to make sense of their findings and apply then to our overarching research agenda.
Collaborator Contribution The core partners are undertaking action research in partnership, including data collection, analysis and testing of disruptive innovation around textile manufacturing waste streams for redistributed manufacturing.
Impact still active
Start Year 2016
 
Description Targeted micro study on the Impact of Makerspaces 
Organisation University of Cumbria
Department Centre for Regional Economic Development
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We commissioned this work and scoped which particular spaces we felt would best arrive at insights for what impact makerspaces were having in terms of socio-economic development and regional manufacturing supply chains. We set the research questions based on our sector knowledge and awareness of gaps in the literature : 1.How do makerspaces integrate into host organisations? 2.How do makerspaces create benefits for local economies?
Collaborator Contribution CRED bring a vast amount of experience relating to business leadership, knowledge transfer and supply chains, economics of the labour market, industrial economics and regional development. This enables them to establish and articulate the mechanisms by which Makerspace impact their locality and host organisations. They are undertaking both desk and primary research and an initial analysis and framing which we will refine together.
Impact Still active
Start Year 2017
 
Title Modular furniture system for OpenDesk.cc. 
Description Prototype and design of modular system for distributed manufacturing with Opendesk.cc. 
Type Of Technology Physical Model/Kit 
Year Produced 2016 
Impact This system will be available via opendesk.cc, which is has a globally distributed network of 500+ producers many of whom are makespaces or community workshops. It prototypes and validates the potential of mass customisation and local production, including variable pricing and responsible design. 
URL https://www.opendesk.cc/
 
Description Building the Circular Economy into Organisations - Warpit, UCL, London, UK (Speaker) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Building the Circular Economy into Organisations - Warpit, UCL, London, UK (Speaker) Warp It gets the best value out of waste resources from large organisations, by finding owners for items that would otherwise have to be disposed of. Sustain RCA spoke at an event about organisational systems and services for circularity, based on the work on Circular Makespaces.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Circular Makespaces - Making Futures 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Following the process of double-blind peer review, Grit Hartung was accepted to present at the conference. Presenting initial findings from the Circular Makespaces feasibility study.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://makingfutures.plymouthart.ac.uk/
 
Description Conference presentation : Redistributed manufacturing in 30 objects - is a distributed maker infrastructure ready to take us beyond a trickle down approach to the circular economy? 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This conference presentation presented findings and thinking around redistributed manufacturing, sustainability and maker practice to an audience of leading practitioners and academics, enabling discussion and debate about how they could b embedded in practice and what the missing links were in terms of scaling sustainable design and production in an effective and inclusive way.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://makingfutures.plymouthart.ac.uk/media/76725/10360.pdf
 
Description Digital Networks, tools, cultures symposium (Level 3) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact The 3rd symposium explored the impact of digital networks, tools and cultures on future makespaces and redistributed manufacturing.

Hosted in London's V&A museum, within their 3rd floor learning centre in association with the digital futures programme, this event will brought together speakers and participants from diverse backgrounds to discuss digital platforms and tools as amplifiers and disrupters.

This was a two day event, each day has a line up of 5 speakers with experience and expertise in futures, makespaces, manufacturing, digital tools, platforms and services.

Talks ran alongside workshop activities and networking.

Speakers included James Tooze - RCA / Future Makespaces project @jamesldtooze
Paul Sohi - Autodesk @fuseps
Peter Verjoijen - DFM forum @DFMforum
Irini Papadimitriou - V&A @irini_mirena
Filippo Yacob - Primo @primotoys
Ben Allun-Jones- Unmade @unmadestudio
Assa Assuach - Digital Forming @DigitalForming
Bram Geenen - Wevolver @wevolverapp
Simona Ferrari - 3D hubs @3dhubs
Delphine Dallison - ReFORM & Maklab @MAKlab
Caroline Heron - MiniBarLabs @minibarlabs
Jay Owens - FACE @hautepop
Josh Worley - Open Making / Opendesk @josh_fpw

approximately 70 people attended, with a significant number of people watching the live stream and following the hashtag.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/
 
Description Expert Roundtable - with keynote Empire Logistics 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Empire Logistics maps the global supply chain through research that articulates the infrastructure and externalized costs of the international flow of things. This roundtable brought together experts and practitioners to consider what mapping manufacturing tells us about possible future distributions of manufacturing. The structure of the event enabled rapid trust forming and the opportunity to discuss in depth and in detail with a peer group of international professionals. Following on from this event, a collaborative paper is in progress and a range of informal interdisciplinary collaborations and research partnerships have formed.

Participants

Adrian McEwan MCQN Ltd, DOES Liverpool CIC, Indie Manufacturing IoT feasibility study
Adrian Smith Professor of Technology and Society (SPRU - Science Policy Research Unit) University of Sussex
Ella Reynolds Programme Manager: Maker Library Network. Architecture, Design, Fashion at British Council
Hannah Stewart Research Associate, Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing
Dr Helge Mooshammer Senior Scientist and Director of Other Markets (2010-2015) at the School of Architecture and Urban Planning at Vienna University of Technology.
James Tooze Co-Investigator Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing, Senior Lecturer, Design Products Royal College of Art
Jimmy Tidey Developer of Localnets.org and RCA PhD researcher
Joni Steiner Co-founder Opendesk
Jude Sherry Manufacturing Analyst, Redistributed Manufacturing, Resilient City RdM network
Leila Sheldrick lecturer in Industrial Design at the Dyson School of Design Engineering.
Lourdes Saca Simon Research Student, Cranfield University, Re:code RdM network
Michael Wilson Empire Logistics
Prof Peter Mörtenböck Professor of Visual Culture at the Vienna University of Technology and research fellow at Goldsmiths College, University of London.
Rodrigo Bautista Principal Sustainability Advisor - Innovation Forum for the Future
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Expert Roundtable with Cameron Tonkinwise ; Transition Design and Redistributed Manufacturing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Cameron's primary area of research is sustainable design. In particular, he focuses on the design of systems that lower societal materials intensity, primarily by decoupling use and ownership - in other words, systems of shared use. Cameron has published a range of articles on the role of design in the promotion of the sharing economy and collaborative consumption. Framing Transition Design as a response to the imperatives for change: the need to develop societies that resource themselves in more sustainable and equitable ways. This event brought to bear this thinking and expertise on the subject of redistributed manufacturing and the roles of makespaces in enabling new forms of value creation and distribution, product design and new types of business models.

The structure of the event enabled rapid trust forming and the opportunity to discuss in depth and in detail with a peer group of international professionals. Following on from this event, a collaborative paper is in progress and a range of formal and informal interdisciplinary collaborations and research partnerships have started.

Participants

Jen Ballie, Research Fellow, The Institute of Design Innovaton, The Glasgow School of Art
Sharon Baurley, Head of Design Projects, Royal College of Art
Laura Billings, Designer & Researcher, The Open Works and Participatory City
Professor Jonathan Chapman, Director of Design Research Initiatives, Brighton University
Liz Corbin, Doctoral Researcher, Institute of Materials
Tim Crabtree, Senior Lecturer in Economics, Schumacher College
Tomas Diez Tutor, Design Products, Royal College of Art; Director of Fab Lab Barcelona at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC)
Nat Hunter, Strategic Director of Machines Room, Design Strategy & Circular Economy Consultant
Nathan Koren Co-founder of Futurescaper, founder of podaris
Alastair Parvin, Designer and civic entrepreneur, co-founder of WikiHouse Foundation and a member of strategic design group 00
Rob Phillips, Senior Tutor, Design Products, Royal College of Art
Hannah Stewart, Research Associate, Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing, Royal College of Art
Vanessa Thomas, Research Associate, Institute for Social Futures, Lancaster University
Cameron Tonkinwise, Director of Design Studies at the School of Design at Carnegie Mellon University; transitioning to Professor of Design at University of New South Wales Art and Design as of January 2017
James Tooze Co-Investigator Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing, Senior Lecturer, Design Products Royal College of Art
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description Expert roundtable with Trebor Scholz on Platform Coopertivism and Redistributed Manufacturing 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This expert roundtable brought leading digital labour academic Trebor Scholtz from the New School in New York together with a range of experts and practitioners who have built, theorised or designed Redistributed Manufacturing platforms, products or services. Together we discussed through a series of structured research activities the alignment between Platform Cooperativism and Redistributed Manufacturing, arriving at a shared understanding of the digital labour, risks and new value creation opportunities offered by these new organisational models and resource management approaches.

This expert discussion has led to further research collaborations and activity, including a co-authored paper that is underway and the creation of a typology of redistributed manufacturing platforms and products.

Participants

Trebor Scholz - Associate Professor of Culture and Media at Eugene Lang College,
The New School for Liberal Arts.
William Hoyle - Director, Tech for Trade
Dr Cian O'Donovan - Research Fellow in Science and Technology Studies (SPRU L
Science Policy Research Unit)
Jimmy Tidey - Doctoral Candidate, Royal College of Art
Professor Adrian Smith - Professor of Technology and Society (SPRU L Science Policy
Research Unit)
Justyna Swat - Strategic designer and architect. Executive founder, Wikihouse,
founder POC21
Jonathan Steiner - Co founder, Opendesk
Natalie Hunter - Strategic Director, Machines Room
Hannah Stewart - Research Associate, Future Makespaces in Redistributed
Manufacturing, Royal College of Art
Mickey McManus - Visiting Research Fellow, Autodesk
Simona Ferrari -0 Global Community Manager, 3D Hubs
Jack Thorpe - Co founder, Fairmondo Uk
Arnaud Nichols - Co founder, Building BloQs
John Thackera - Writer, advisor and public speaker. Senior Research Fellow, RCA
Till Wolfer - Co founder, XYZ Cargo
Mauricio Cordova - Social Entrepreneur, Faircap
Elizabeth Corbin - Doctoral Candidate, Institute of Making
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
 
Description Experts meeting (London) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The Princes Charities - Prince of Wales Sustainability Unit convened an experts panel to tackle the issues of plastics waste, pollution and recycling.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://news.sky.com/story/big-brands-respond-to-prince-charles-oceans-plea-10752522
 
Description FMS_RDM twitter account and feed 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing project manages a twitter account with significant social reach. We average 500 followers, and during events use a consistent hashtag (#futuremakespaces ) which engages on average 20,000 unique users while the event is live. We also use periscope and Katch to live broadcast from our events, allowing those outside the room to fully participate in the event and discussion and aiding the dissemination of our thinking and findings about barriers and opportunities in this research area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015,2016
URL https://twitter.com/FMs_RdM
 
Description Fab City Summit 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact The Fab City Summit was a invite only summit over 2 days in Amsterdam. It involved the experts, civic leaders, strategic designers and practitioners who form the core of a worldwide network working out the concept of locally productive and globally connected cities. A Fab City is a new urban model for self-sufficient cities in which citizens are empowered. To become a Fab City requires having a more precise knowledge of the way cities work. Which steps should be taken now to make our cities more resilient to future challenges? The Fab City Summit collaboratively arrived at a manifesto for the Fab City and started work on a roadmap for future research investment and activity. It enabled; future collaborative research activity, shared knowledge and disseminated findings from the Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing project, built strong institutional relationships that have been leveraged in the submission of a 3 year 7 million EU bid, the outcome of which is not yet known. The Future Makespaces team facilitated this event, and supported the participation of a number of our core stakeholders.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://europebypeople.nl/programme/fabcity-summit-2
 
Description Fab13 - Fabricating Society 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact Invited as a guest speaker to present the Future Makespaces research at the Fabricating Society, the 13th International Conference of Digital Fabrication. This talk contributed to a Panel discussion on Distributed Design to an audience of approx. 100 people.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://fab13.sched.com/exhibitor/jamestooze
 
Description Final workshop RE:FORM 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact The aim of the final workshop was to report on RE:FORM activities to the network we had developed, and propose future directions to interested parties. Based on the lower than expected turn-out in Workshop 2, we decided to change the format, moving from a single all-day event to an early evening public dissemination event (open to all), to attract participants who would not be able to attend during working hours; and a second, invitation-only event to representatives from MAKLab's industry contacts where we would present our work and request feedback.
A further third event was added: a debriefing and reflection session for the summer school makers and designers. A number of designers had indicated that they'd like to see MAKLab and meet their partnering makers, and we also felt this might be a good opportunity to describe the overall research aims of the project to summer school participants and invite their feedback, both reflecting on the summer school but also their consideration of the project and its outcomes as a whole.
The event was successful, triggering further discussions with the scottish government about accrediting manufacturing experience in makespaces through apprenticeships.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Future Makespaces in Redistributed manufacturing Network e-campaign 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The Future Makespaces in Redistributed Manufacturing project maintains and facilitates a network of professionals and academics, the e-campaign list has an international reach and at time of posting - 403 subscribers. This has significant social reach and ensures we are disseminating findings effectively, as well as broadening the engagement with our events, funding calls and thinking.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Keynote presentation Cowerk Berlin 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact As an invited keynote this presentation summarised our activities, findings and framing to date. The Cowerk conference was part of an ongoing EU funded project and the presentation and subsequent discussion influenced the positioning and framing of the hosts activity, as well as disseminating our findings to an audience of European academics, industry leads and policy makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL http://www.cowerk.org/data/cowerk/user_upload/Dateien/Cowerk_Werkstaetten_des_Wandels_Programmreader...
 
Description Level 1 Makespaces symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Hosted at Machines Room this first symposium was a day of talks and discussions that covered topics that gave an overview of makespaces, their relationships with manufacturing, the relationships between makers and industry, future technology horizons and new possibilities / opportunities of redistributed manufacturing.

Speakers included:
Bruce Newlands, (Kraft Architecture),
Dr. Eddie Kirkby (The Manufacturing Institute),
Tomas Diez (FabLab Barcelona & IAAC),
Joni Steiner & Nick Ierodiacounou (Opendesk),
Prof. Daniel Charny (The Maker Library Network & Fixperts)
Sophie Thomas (Great Recovery / RSA).

It was attended by approx 80 professionals and academics interested in this field.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/
 
Description Level 1 makespace symposium workshop day 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Day 2 of the level 1 symposium was formed of SERIES OF ACTIVITIES TO CREATE PROPOSALS FOR A FEASIBILITY STUDY - this lead to the opportunity to apply for a 25K+ funded short project that intended to test part of the thinking / ideas covered during the symposium.
The projects at this level will focus on Makespaces themselves - with the identification of the key technologies, people and skills, tools, materials, resources, cultures and methods that are needed in makespaces for them to support redistributed manufacturing and in order to move from linear economy practice to circular economy practice.

Approximately 40 people attended this day, with 7 proposals being generated and submitted by collaborative teams.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/
 
Description Local Connections level 2 symposium 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact This 2nd symposium explored the impact of local connections on future makespaces and redistributed manufacturing.
Hosted in Salford's exciting Biospheric Project alongside an urban farm, this event brought together speakers and participants from a range of diverse backgrounds, including makerspaces, manufacturers, product designers, investors, developers, suppliers, artists and academics.

There was the option to attend either or both days, with each having a line up of 5 or 6 speakers with experience and expertise in futures, makespaces, manufacturing, civic networks and development.

Speakers included :
Georgina Voss, Strange Telemetry
Adrian McEwen, DOES Liverpool
Naveed Parvez, Andiamo
Stacy Driver, Stickleback Manufacture & Ragworm
Hwa Young, UK Makerbelt
Andrew Goodman, Pontio
Elizabeth Corbin, Open Workshop London
Annemarie Naylor, Common Futures
Ugo Vallauri, Restart Project
Clare Cunningham, Faberdashery
Vincent Walsh, Biospheric Foundation
Mike Berners-Lee, Expert in carbon footprinting

This event was associated with a 25k research call, and sought to baseline research and activity in this area.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/
 
Description Made in the UK - A Future, presentation for Brunel & Place West London at the CRL 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact James Tooze spoke about the project in the context of the CRL which is a leading hardware incubator and makerspaces, the presentation raised awareness of the project and the subject matter and related that to real world projects. Making it applicable to the startups present, as well as the academics and policy makers.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description Making Futures conference - Future Makespaces 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Following the process of double-blind peer review, the authors were been accepted to present at the conference. We presented a future vision of how and where we manufacture based on evidence from our 'makespace level' studies, about the infrastructures, tools, practices and networks that have been documented.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://makingfutures.plymouthart.ac.uk/
 
Description Making Jobs - a panel discussion at DFID (London) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact 5 minute talk about the Future Makespaces Research in the context of development. Panel discussion alongside Field Ready and Tech For Trade on the relationship between digital manufacturing, redistributed production and development.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://medium.com/@InnovateDFID/development-at-the-touch-of-a-button-6d325cf6f36c#.z4qzm0p2y
 
Description OSCE day London Sustain RCA 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact OSCEdays is an open, distributed and globally connected event.

Experts, enthusiasts and innovators from across the globe work together in order to exchange ideas and solutions - prototyping systems, products and designs for an Open Source Circular Economy.

June, from the 12th-14th the Open Source Circular Economy days took place in at the Fab Lab London. Participants, from a variety of backgrounds, were introduced to challenges identified by leaders such as The Great Recovery, Open Energy Monitor, The Rubbish Diet, and the Knowledge Transfer Network (also the London sponsor), who set about working on circular economy solutions using open source principles.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL https://technicalnature.org.uk/tag/circular-economy/
 
Description Platform Cooperativism workshop and conference activity 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Policymakers/politicians
Results and Impact running a workshop activuty and speaking at the Platform Cooperativism event enabled dissemernation of our research findings and thinking into the digital labour context, enabling our thinking to be embedded in an impactful discipline and industry practice. It also enabled future joint research activity which was generative and collaborative with Trebor Scholz.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
 
Description RE:FORM Workshop 1: Industry Needs and Redistributed Manufacturing (Glasgow) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Industry/Business
Results and Impact This was the first of three project workshops on the themes of (1) Industry needs; (2) Accreditation and (3) Summing up and reporting, each with an informal gathering of makers, designers, manufacturers and experts to gain their insights.

Workshop 1: Industry Needs and Redistributed Manufacturing took place in Glasgow, it ran at the beginning of the project and was designed to provide context for the ongoing work. 14 participants attended the event, with the majority involved in education and a smaller number of independent makers and SME representatives. The OU and MAKLab teams were present.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description RE:FORM Workshop 2: Innovating Accreditation (Milton Keynes) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Regional
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact The RE:FORM project held three project workshops on the themes of (1) Industry needs; (2) Accreditation and (3) Summing up and reporting.

Workshop 2: Innovating Accreditation (Milton Keynes, 04/09/2015) was developed and delivered in collaboration by Mark Gaved, Iestyn Jowers and Simon Cross from the Open University in collaboration with Delphine Dallison and Mark Craig from MAKLab.

Alternative accreditation could be a way forward for makespaces, but they need to work in partnership with industry either at national level (via job centre, SDS or other governmental bodies) or at local level (makespace identifies local industry training needs and works with them to tailor accredited training). This gathering of <20 experts in open making, distributed education and accreditation was impactful, triggering engagement with Open University's Open Educational Resources project team (ongoing discussions) following Workshop 2 (regarding Open Badges and other alternative modes of accreditation).
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description RE:FORM summer school case study 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Study participants or study members
Results and Impact In the summer school case study, participants engaged in an authentic learning experience that replicated a real-world distributed designer-maker relationship, with an aim to bridge formal and informal learning (Stein et al. 2004). During the case study participants were encouraged to collaborate on a design problem and to work together to develop designs via reflection on physical prototypes. The aim was for participants to learn from each other, so that the vocational learners at MAKLab could develop conceptual and theoretical understanding of the design process, while the Open University design students could engage with the making process and the realities of production.

The 14 participants were randomly allocated partners to form designer-maker pairs, and within their pairs they were tasked with designing a chair that can be economically manufactured and transported.
This brief was composed with reference to the earlier study reported by Prats and Garner (2009). MAKLab identified CNC (computer numerical control) routers as an appropriately flexible technology, with scope for learners to develop useful skills and expertise. The other requirements were identified with the intention to constrain the design process, and to ensure the designers' material discovery was focussed on human needs and production realities (Morgan, 2012). It was anticipated that the resulting project would be a collaboration between designers and makers, with both developing skills and knowledge, as they worked together in a manner that mimicked a real-world scenario of distributed manufacturing.

8 pairs of maker -designer started this research exercise with 7 pairs completing it. Resulting in a dataset and research insights documented elsewhere.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
 
Description RE:FORM website 
Form Of Engagement Activity Engagement focused website, blog or social media channel
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Other audiences
Results and Impact A project website has been central to RE:FORM (http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/reform). This has been used to present public information about the project, and link to associated events. This will continue to remain live for the foreseeable future.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/reform/
 
Description Rebooting the Digital Commons - talk for the V&As Digital Futures program 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact DIGITAL FUTURES: REBOOTING THE DIGITAL COMMONS

Rebooting the Digital Commons, which coincided with the 'All of This Belongs to You' exhibition at the V&A , explored how open technologies and open source communities are driving civic awareness, innovation and social change.

The event also explored how art, design and technology define society, civic identity and reinvent the public space.

Hannah Stewart presented to an audience of approximately 30 professionals.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2015
URL http://thewhitebuilding.org.uk/whats-on/digital-futures-rebooting-the-digital-commons/
 
Description Research development workshop (Fab13 Santiago de Chile) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A formal working group, expert panel or dialogue
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 15 people attended a research development workshop as part of Fabricating Society, 13th International Conference of Digital Fabrication, Santiago de Chile. The discussion and debate enabled the spreading of research findings and proposals for future work, and led to participants contacting the organisers to offer future support.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2017
URL https://fab13.sched.com/artist/jamestooze
 
Description Symposium 4 Policy and Supply Chains 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach National
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact Our 4th symposium to explore the impact of policy and supply chains on future makespaces and redistributed manufacturing.
Hosted in Edinburgh's carbon innovation centre, this event brought together speakers and participants from diverse backgrounds to discuss policy and supply chain interventions that could enable a more sustainable future distribution of ideas, resources and products.
This was a two day event, each day had a line up of 5 speakers with experience and expertise in futures, makespaces, manufacturing, policy and supply chains.

Speakers included :

James Tooze RCA / Future Makespaces @jamesldtooze
Fi Scott Makeworks @fimakeswork
Jessi Baker Provenance @jessibaker
Tomas Diez FabLab Barcelona @tomasdiez
Richard Clifford MakLab @maklab_richard
Phil Brown HSSMI @HSSMI
Al Parra Building BloQs @buildingbloqs
John Willshire Smithery @willsh
Sarah Teasley RCA @sarah_teasley
Indy Johar 00, Dark Matter Laboratories @indy_johar
Naomi Turner Policy connect @Naomi_Turner
Craig Martin University of Edinburgh @designgeography
David Smith Cultural Enterprise Scotland @CEOScotland
Paul Croft Ultimaker @UltimakerGB

Approximately 50 people attended this event, and the hashtag and footage were followed by many others.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://futuremakespaces.rca.ac.uk/
 
Description We Can Make - Symposium (Knowle West Media Centre) 
Form Of Engagement Activity A talk or presentation
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach Local
Primary Audience Professional Practitioners
Results and Impact 10 minute talk to disseminate the work of the Future Makespaces Network project and the future direction of work for the research. This talk was in the context of local manufacturing meeting local needs. Followed by a panel discussion with local university (Bristol), local businesses, local government and local MP (Bristol South)
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2016
URL http://www.connectingbristol.org/can-make-reimagining-manufacturing-bristol/