This document summarizes the maker movement in Singapore, including the first Mini Maker Faire in 2012 organized by the Science Centre Singapore, growing meetups held in 2013 and 2014, and maker-friendly spaces. It notes some differences from Western "garage culture" and challenges for makers in Singapore like the lack of a full public-access makerspace and perceptions of makers as hobbyists. The document predicts greater engagement between makers and policy-makers and more hardware startups in the next few years.

1. Singapore:
City for Makers
Maker City Meetup 6 Apr 2014 Shenzhen
William Hooi
william@sgmakers.com
Sunday, 6 April, 14

2. First Maker Event
• First Mini Maker Faire in 2012
• Organized by the Science
Centre Singapore in
conjunction with the
Singapore Science Festival
Sunday, 6 April, 14

3. Meetups
• Jan 2013 at
HackerspaceSG (25
in attendance)
• Feb 2014 at Home-
Fix HQ (200 in
attendance)
(source: Funbiestdios)
Sunday, 6 April, 14

4. Maker-friendly Spaces
Sunday, 6 April, 14

5. What makes Singapore
unique?
• Bringing back
‘Kampung’
(village) spirit
• Using
technology to
draw out the
humanity in
all of us
(source: SL2)
Sunday, 6 April, 14

6. Some differences..
• Garage culture vs kampung innovation
• Top-down vs ground-up community
• Open sharing vs ‘kiasu’ mentality (about
ideas copied by someone else)
Sunday, 6 April, 14

7. Making in the open
(source: SL2)
Sunday, 6 April, 14

8. Ground-up innovators
Sunday, 6 April, 14

9. Hurdles
• No full public-access makerspace
• Makers perceived as DIY hobbyists
• Cost of rental
• Restrictions by local authorities
• Sticky about IP
(source:Techinasia)
Sunday, 6 April, 14

10. What we may be seeing
in the next few years..
• Making = hacking
• More ground-up hardware start-up
• More engagement with policy-makers
• Strangers to Makers to Fans to Founders
Sunday, 6 April, 14

11. Thank you!
william@sgmakers.com
Sunday, 6 April, 14