CONFERENCE + EXPO 2023
the future of making
Join us and learn how locally productive and globally connected cities enable a circular economy.
Date | 3-4 March, 2023 |
Location | Design Zentrum Hamburg, Hongkongstraße 8, 20457 Hamburg-Hafencity |
Organized by | Team INTERFACER |
Registration | Get your free ticket here! |

ABOUT
After nearly two successful years, the EU-funded project INTERFACER is coming to an end. We invite you to share your visions on how to transform Hamburg to a locally productive and globally connected city, and discuss together the design challenges for a desirable and sustainable future.The foundation has been laid for global connections, the digitization of local production and the development of a unique maker scene in Hamburg in times of global challenges, such as environmental and social consequences of climate change. This is the future of making!
The final event #tfom23, a two-day on-site Conference + Expo, is a unique opportunity for meaningful, in-person connections with other local and global changemakers. Immerse yourself in talks, workshops, an exhibition or community gatherings to shape the future of making now!
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Talks, Workshops and Exhibitions on local circular and globally connected cities.
KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Francesca Bria
Digital and Innovation Policy Expert
Bio
Francesca is one of Europe’s leading digital policy experts. As an innovation economist, she works at the intersection of technology, geopolitics, economics, and society. Before taking on her current role as President of the Italian Innovation Fund, she was Chief Digital Technology and Innovation Officer of the City of Barcelona and Advisor on Next Generation Internet and Innovation Policy to the European Commission. She also led major European research and innovation projects, such as the DECODE-project, an effort to reclaim citizens’ data sovereignty. Infos & Reference

Neil Gershenfeld
Director, Center for Bits and Atoms, MIT
Bio
Prof. Neil Gershenfeld is the Director of MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, where his unique laboratory is breaking down boundaries between the digital and physical worlds, from pioneering quantum computing to digital fabrication to the Internet of Things. He’s the founder of a global network of over two thousand fab labs in 125 countries, chairs the Fab Foundation, and leads the Fab Academy (Full Biography & Reference). Neil Gershenfeld’s talk will be held as a live broadcast during #tfom23.

Tomas Diez
Founding partner and Director, Fab City Foundation
Bio
Tomas Diez Ladera is a Venezuela born Urbanist who specializes in digital fabrication and its implications in the future of cities and society. He is co-director and member of the board at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia where he also is a senior researcher and tutor. He collaborates in projects, events, and programs with the Fab Foundation, such as Fab City, Fab Conferences and Fab Academy worldwide. He is now the Strategic Director of Fab Lab Barcelona at IAAC, co-director of the Master in Design for Emergent Futures, as well as the founding partner and Executive Director of the Fab City Foundation, and the Meaningful Design Group Bali (Reference). Tomas Diez’s welcoming remarks come directly from Bali and will be broadcast live during #tfom23.

Javier Serrano
Physicist and Electronics Engineer (CERN)
Bio
Javier Serrano is a Physicist and Electronics Engineer working in the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). He specializes in the design and development of electronics for controlling the particle accelerators that probe the most minute constituents of matter. A fervent advocate of freedom in the digital sphere, he is the co-author of the CERN Open Hardware License and the creator of the Open Hardware Repository, a web platform where institutes, companies and individuals freely share hardware designs. Profile & Reference.

William Neale
Adviser on Circular Economy for the European Commission’s Environment Directorate General
Bio
William Neale is Adviser on Circular Economy and Green Growth for the European Commission’s Environment Directorate General. He is currently mostly occupied with the proposed Ecodesign for Sustainable Products Regulation and Digital Product Passport, the Sustainable Finance Taxonomy, and the circular economy in relation to digital policy, employment policy, and European funding. He previously served for 11 years as a Member of Cabinet (private office) of European Commissioners for Science and Research, Environment, Maritime Affairs and Fisheries. Mr. Neale started his career in public service working for 7 years in the European Commission’s Directorate General for Enterprise and Industry (now DG GROW), and before that spent 13 years in the private sector in the fields of international banking, retail, social enterprise and management consultancy. He holds joint honours degrees in economics and history, and a masters (Econ), both from the University of Manchester (UK).
CONFERENCE
Friday, 3rd of March 2022
Time | Topic |
---|---|
08:45 | Registration open |
CONFERENCE OPENING | |
10:00 | Welcome remarks |
11:00 | INTERFACER Key results |
12:00 | Lunch break |
INTERFACER RESULTS | |
13:30 | Session 1: INTERFACER results / Session 2: Research track |
15:00 | Coffee break |
15:30 | Session 1: INTERFACER results / Session 2: Research track |
CITY, CITIZEN, DIGTALILISATION, SUSTAINABILITY | |
17:30 | Keynote: Francesca Bria |
18:15 | Food, Drinks & Networking |
21:00 | End of Day 1 |
Saturday, 4th of March 2022
Time | Topic |
---|---|
9:30 | Registration open |
CIRCULAR ECONOMY, OPEN SOURCE & INNOVATION | |
10:00 | CDDD2 Keynote & Workshop Results |
11:00 | Launch Open Toolchain Foundation (OTFN) |
12:30 | Award Session Innovation Challenges |
DEMO & COMMUNITY SESSIONS | |
13:30 | Demo Session & Community Meetup |
15:00 | Coffee break |
15:30 | Demo Sessions & Community Meetup |
DIGITAL ECOSYSTEMS AND THE FAB CITY | |
17:00 | The digital ecoystem declaration |
18:30 | Keynote Neil Gershenfeld - live broadcast |
19:00 | Food & Drinks, Get-together |
23:00 | End of Day 2 |
EXPOSITION
EN
95 creative product ideas were submitted to the Maker Challenge idea competition in June 2022. The variety was great: from cornering lights for bicycles, to smart trash cans, to a wheelchair that is supposed to go up and down stairs, everything is included. The goal of the Maker Challenge was and is, even after the competition, to challenge and promote the creativity and innovative power of the citizens of the city and metropolitan region of Hamburg in order to thus fill the Fab City Hamburg with life - again producing locally on site in a targeted manner. At the future of making Conference + Expo, the prototypes of the Maker Challenge will be presented to the public exclusively for the first time on March 3-4. Everything was made locally in our Hamburg Fab(rication) Labs. Find more information here.
DE
95 kreative Produktideen wurden bei dem Ideenwettbewerb Maker Challenge im Juni 2022 eingereicht. Die Vielfalt war groß: vom Kurvenlicht fürs Fahrrad, über smarte Mülleimer bis hin zu einem Rollstuhl, der Treppen fahren soll, ist alles dabei. Ziel der Maker Challenge war und ist es auch nach dem Wettbewerb, die Kreativität und Innovationskraft der Bürgerinnen und Bürger der Stadt und Metropolregion Hamburg zu fordern und zu fördern, um somit die Fab City Hamburg mit Leben zu füllen - wieder gezielt lokal vor Ort produzieren. Auf der “the future of making” Conference + Expo werden exklusiv am 3-4 März zum ersten Mal die Prototypen der Maker Challenge der Öffentlichkeit präsentiert. Alles wurde lokal in unseren Hamburger Fab(rication) Labs gefertigt. Detaillierte Infos hier.
EN
BUILDING FOR ALL. As part of the EU-funded INTERFACER project, Fab City Hamburg e.V. is offering a free build workshop series from January to March 2023. Those who are in the vicinity can still secure a workshop place - the series is ongoing. Get your workshop-ticket here. This involves making and assembling a wide variety of products in Hamburg’s open workshops (Fab Labs) using open-source hardware documentation and guidance from workshop leaders. The goal is to test and explore the possibilities of local and open production in Hamburg. The products made during the workshops will be exhibited exclusively during #tfom23. From microscopes linked with AI, solar boxes, to micro-bio gas systems, wood fabrications, or even lamps made from the mycelium of mushrooms, everything is there.
DE
BUILDUNG FÜR ALLE. Im Rahmen des EU-geförderten INTERFACER projects bietet der Fab City Hamburg e.V. eine kostenfreie Buildworkshop-Serie von Januar bis März 2023 an. Wer in der Nähe ist, kann sich noch einen Workshop-Platz hier sichern. Dabei werden in Hamburgs offenen Werkstätten (sogenannte Fab Labs) unter Verwendung von Open-Source Hardware Dokumentation und Anleitung von Workshopleitenden verschiedenste Produkte gefertigt und zusammengebaut. Ziel ist es, die Möglichkeiten einer lokalen und offenen Produktion in Hamburg zu testen und zu erforschen. Die Produkte, die während der Workshops gefertigt wurden, werden während der #tfom23 exklusiv ausgestellt. Von Mikroskopen mit KI verknüpft, Solar-Boxen, bis hin zu Mikro-Bio-Gasanlagen, Holzfertigungen, oder sogar Lampen aus dem Myzel von Pilzen hergestellt, ist alles dabei.
EN
What could a small-scale yet professional, local and decentralized production of physical products look like? This is what we want to test with the highly flexible and digital “microfactory” concept. During the conference, we will showcase this new mode of production with a pop-up like “microfactory”. Learn about machines, processes and how they can be used to produce almost anything.
DE
Wie könnte eine kleine, aber professionelle, lokale und dezentrale Produktion von physischen Produkten aussehen? Das wollen wir mit dem hochflexiblen und digitalen “microfactory”-Konzept testen. Während der Konferenz werden wir diese neue Art der Produktion mit einer Pop-up-ähnlichen “Mikrofabrik” vorstellen. Lernen Sie Maschinen und Prozesse kennen und erfahren Sie, wie man mit ihnen fast alles herstellen kann.
WORKSHOPS
EN
This workshop is curated by the Fab City Foundation and co-organised with the Fab City Hamburg. In recognising the need to steward, advocate for, and foster a global digital commons, the Fab City global initiative is embarking on the development of the Digital Ecosystem Declaration (DED) together with Collective and Network members. This Declaration aims to highlight the principles that will guide the development of protocols and bring key stakeholders together in order to develop the Data In - Data Out-enabling infrastructure for distributive and regenerative production, rooted in open, collaborative, meaningful, and ecosystemic principles. We aim to see the DED signed by key stakeholders who will work together towards the development of the DED principles by the end of 2023.
The workshop is aimed at stakeholders from the Fab City community who want to actively participate in building a digital infrastructure. If you are interested, please fill out the following form: tbd soon
DE
Dieser Workshop wird von der Fab City Foundation kuratiert und gemeinsam mit der Fab City Hamburg durchgeführt. In Anerkennung der Notwendigkeit, ein globales digitales Commons zu verwalten, dafür einzutreten und es zu fördern, beginnt die globale Fab City Initiative zusammen mit den Mitgliedern des Fab City Collectives und seines Netzwerks mit der Entwicklung der Digital Ecosystem Declaration. Diese Erklärung soll die Prinzipien hervorheben, die die Entwicklung von Protokollen leiten und die wichtigsten Interessengruppen zusammenbringen, um die Data In - Data Out Infrastruktur für die Verteilung und Regeneration von Daten zu entwickeln, die auf offenen, gemeinschaftlichen, sinnvollen und ökosystemischen Prinzipien beruht. Unser Ziel ist es, dass der DED bis Ende 2023 von den wichtigsten Akteuren unterzeichnet wird, die gemeinsam an der Entwicklung der DED-Grundsätze arbeiten werden.
Der Workshop richtet sich an Akteure aus der Fab-City-Gemeinschaft, die sich aktiv am Aufbau einer digitalen Infrastruktur beteiligen wollen. Wenn Sie interessiert sind, füllen Sie bitte das folgende Formular aus: tbd soon
EN
How can we support the transformation to a circular economy in the textile and fashion industry in Hamburg by collecting, providing, exchanging and disseminating data? This is the initial question for an approximately 4-hour workshop with a focus on Circular Textile, which will be introduced by inspiring talks by experts and good practice examples. The workshop is aimed at local actors from the entire value chain of the textile and fashion industry. In a co-creative process, the needs and limits of data collection and communication of the individual actors are to be determined and strategies for better cooperation are to be developed. Since the focus of the workshop is on data for the local textile circular economy, it is primarily aimed at stakeholders from the textile industry.
Registration here
More about the workshop here
Co-organised with the Hamburg Authority for the Environment, Climate, Energy and Agriculture (BUKEA)
DE
Wie können wir die Transformation zu einer zirkulären Wirtschaft in der Textil- und Modebranche in Hamburg über die Erhebung, Bereitstellung, Austausch und Verbreitung von Daten unterstützen? Dies ist die Ausgangsfrage für einen ca. 4-stündigen Workshop mit dem Fokus auf zirkuläre Textilien, der durch inspirierende Talks von Experten sowie Good Practice Beispielen eingeleitet wird. Der Workshop richtet sich an lokale Akteure aus der gesamten Wertschöpfungskette der Textil- und Modebranche. In einem ko-kreativen Prozess sollen die Bedürfnisse und Grenzen der Datenerhebung und Vermittlung der einzelnen Akteure ermittelt und Strategien einer besseren Kooperation entwickelt werden.
Da der Schwerpunkt des Workshops auf Daten für die lokale Textilkreislaufwirtschaft liegt, richtet er sich in erster Linie an Akteure aus der Textilindustrie.
Anmeldung hier
Mehr zum Workshop hier.
Co-Organisiert mit der Hamburger Behörde für Umwelt, Klima, Energie und Agrarwirtschaft (BUKEA).
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#tfom23 TEASER VIDEO
The conference is organized as part of the EU-funded INTERFACER project led by consortium partners Helmut Schmidt University, Fab City Hamburg e.V., Hamburger Institut für Wertschöpfungssystematik und Wissensmanagement UG and dyne.org Foundation.
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