BICo/ Openmaker

2018

Project type: words, films, campaigns

A pan-European project, OpenMaker sought to seed and encourage a fourth industrial revolution, bringing together makers and manufacturers. The OpenMaker project was open to applicants across the UK, with focus specifically aimed on north west England (Salford, Liverpool, and others).

Working alongside other accelerators in Italy, Spain, and Slovakia, the programme wanted to see if smaller makers could help manufacturers become more agile, creative, and innovative, whilst also seeing if manufacturers could help makers become more streamlined and cost effective.

We established a specific UK OpenMaker website, contributing copy and testimonies, as well as providing regular OpenMaker Q&As. We interviewed businesses and start-ups involved in OpenMaker, as well as other influential designers, academics, and makers, all of whom had their own take on making and manufacturing.

We also ran an in-depth social media campaign, sharing the content we created with a wider audience, as well as inviting relevant parties to apply for OpenMaker. The campaign was a roaring success, leading to record numbers for the BICo social media channels, as well as really capturing the imagination of the UK maker communities.

At the end of the project we travelled with the BICo team to Bratislava to oversee the final OpenMaker event, hearing amazing stories from the participants and winners from each country, while supporting and interviewing the UK winners.