Ten (no wait, 11!) Great Projects from the European Maker Faire, Rome
From the 14th to the 16th of October at the Fiera di Roma, Maker Faire Rome took place, covering more than 55,000 m2 with hundreds of innovative, surprising projects from makers around the world. Over 700 projects were on display and conferences, seminars and training workshops were held on issues such as robotics, 3D industry Internet of Things and technology applications. The goal? Introduce encourage the combination of craftsmanship and innovation. Along with the Future Food Institute, I was able to explore the Maker world and stumbled across some exciting new projects I’d like to share.
Growing insects: Livin Farms
I met Katharina having breakfast at the hotel where we stayed in Rome. She is from Austria, living in Hong Kong and working around the Shenzhen area. As we started chatting, I became fascinated by her story. She is the founder of Livin Farm, the world’s first desktop hive for edible insects. For her, eating insects was just the start of her journey into the future of food. Everything began when she moved to Hong Kong — she noticed the huge energy consumption and food problems. With increasing urbanization and more city dwellers worldwide, (already noticeable in Hong Kong and rising across European as well) the places where we consume our food is often quite far from where it is grown. This is called detachment. It’s for this reason that Katharina started Livin Farms. She wants to empower herself and people to grow food even in small spaces. That’s where insects came into play. Small, numerous and extremely nutritious. The worms tasted great and the hive was really well designed, easy to fit into any home. Would you be a bug farmer? Let’s see what’s next!
Using insects but not literally eating them: By-EntO
BY-entO is a new entrepreneurial reality in the biotechnology realm. The idea offers animal feed based on insects and compost by productive recycling. Breeding via innovative and eco-friendly methods, BY-entO is the first of it’s kind to franchise in Europe and use methods of molecular extraction for this type of work. It’s not just human food that is staining our environment, but livestock feed as well. This new measure could ensure all (animals and humans) stay fit and full with sustainable feed solutions.
Open Source Nature: La Cool Co.
I met Khalil and Antoine in the 6th pavilion (Obviously, always around food area!). The first thing that caught my eye was their tagline: “Nature is open source. Why would your smart garden be any different?” Completely right! Le Petit COOL is the world’s first personal, open source, smart greenhouse. In a do-it-yourself kit you can build your own smart garden and share it with friends. You can download the shopping list, buy pieces, assemble them and you can start growing. Isn’t that amazing?
The new way of playing football: SpaceExe
With SpaceExe you need just a few clicks to observe in real time all the physical and tactical features of the athlete. This means tracking and analysing real-time physical activity and performances. Awesome! The interesting part is that the same technology is then used for completely different purposes, but maybe even more impactful. The system can measure surface deformations that can be used for environmental monitoring applications and infrastructural applications through the use of single frequency GNSS networks receivers. This means understanding when the land is moving and helping track potential environmental risks.
Sharing economy: 2Hire
This is the first scooter sharing concept conceived by students from Rome and now running inside LUISS University as a prototype. The goal is to allow students to move around the facilities enjoying a peer to peer service that does not pollute. It was a great kickoff and now prototypes are already speeding around Rome. Let’s see how they will grow! Sounds like something more campuses could adopt!
Did you say sensors? Stay Active!
Attracted by all the people around, I stopped at this booth. I sat down. I wore a sensor on my chest and the experience started. StayActive is a device that corrects bad posture either when sitting or standing. Once you put it on and it is calibrated through an app, StayActive warns you if you have a bad posture with a slight vibration. Basically, it forces you to maintain the good posture, if you want or not! Great for all of us at our desks who could use a little positive posture encouragement.
3D printed electric vehicle: Toxic
I bumped into five Product Design students out of nowhere. Their goal was to build a fully 3D printed vehicle powered only by an electric drill. Can you imagine? What a challenge, I’d say! But they did it. They developed, designed, executed and assembled their bike in less than three months. With a fully loaded battery, Toxic runs up to 950 meters with a speed of 22 km/h. So it won’t win a highway race, but amazing what can be done with few resources, a little time and a lot of hard work!
Sustainable resources: Watly
I couldn’t not mention this amazing project. Watly works to provide solutions to some of the fundamental global human needs: access to clean water and sanitation, free-energy, and connectivity. The mission is to improve global living standards for the most in-need people in the world. To do that they create technological solutions powered by clean and renewable energies. They respect and protect the Earth’s ecosystem. They are conceived through innovative design and unconventional engineering approach. Their space was unbelievably powerful and inspiring: a real look at how design and innovation can make an impact.
Are you freezing? Meet Aria.
Aria is world’s smartest insole, focused also on design and comfort.
It tracks your lifestyle, regulates your temperature and keeps you warm or cool, all from inside your shoe. Imagine the possibilities!
The 3D printer to go: ONO
ONO prints 3D objects directly from your smartphone. The printing resins harden under visible light. 3D objects can be created layer by layer using your smartphone’s screen as a light source. As of now, you can only print a handful of shapes, but once the concept is validated, it will open more and more possibilities!
..and finally, our Food Tech Jungle!
The perfect place to meet people, eat something and learn about the latest food trends. The Food Tech Jungle was definitely one of the coolest concepts seen in the Maker Faire (and rewarded with a Blue Ribbon!). It was possible to taste the burger of the future made out of chickpeas, algae and Farro; eat quinoa with goji berries, feta and spices; nibble on Spirulina dark chocolate bars, as well as try “space food”, ArgoTech products designed for astronauts. We all felt part of this crazy innovation jungle, trying to explore more and conquer the challenges of the future!
