Introduction:
The European manufacturing landscape is in urgent need of change. In 2014, manufacturing represented about 16% of the EU GDP, more than 80% of EU total exports, 80% of private Research & Development expenditure, and employed 30 million people. However, the financial crisis has heavily hit the sector, combining its negative effect with ongoing globalisation and technological innovation negative externalities. Together these factors have culminated in the loss of over 3.8 million jobs.
Reinvigorating the manufacturing sector is a complex task that requires transformation at the heart of production processes and models upon which our industrial society has been built. Inroads in generating this scale of shift in manufacturing have been made in areas conducive to open technologies in the fields of digital fabrication and craftsmanship – where the manufacturing sector has come into contact with the emerging social-technology based Maker movement, innovation and growth emerges. This drives the democratisation of production, turning manufacturing into a participatory, collaborative, and open process in which all agents share risks and benefits and, ultimately, increase the value of production.
More information here
Call: H2020 Collective Awareness Platforms for Sustainability and Social Innovation
Start Date: 20 June 2016 (24 months)
Project page: http://openmaker.eu/