Welcome to the September edition of our newsletter!
They say change begins with a single spark — a student soldering two wires together at a cluttered bench, eyes bright with the kind of focus that turns ideas into things. Imagine hundreds of those sparks, then thousands, then a network of buzzing workshops across towns that once only taught from textbooks. That’s the story we’re stepping into this month.
Maker Bhavan Foundation (MBF) has joined hands with All India Council for Education (AICTE), GOI, for Project for Advancing Critical Thinking, Industry Connect and Employability (PRACTICE) — a bold effort to bring project-based learning, stronger industry links and faculty development to 1,000 tier-2 and tier-3 engineering colleges. It’s not just a number on a slide: it’s lakhs of students getting hands-on time, and thousands of teachers learning new ways to guide them.
This month, IIT Gandhinagar, in partnership with MBF, hosted the Indian Academic Makerspaces Summit (IAMS) – the academic heart of the maker movement takes a deliberate, bold step forward. This was not a conference, but a convocation of projects and impact, where pedagogy meets perspiration. IAMS drives maker-led learning by uniting academia, industry, and global practitioners. This isn’t a one-time effort; from next year, it will be an annual event at IIT Indore, fueling innovation and India’s maker movement.
The sparks ignited by Project PRACTICE and IAMS are spreading fast, lighting up classrooms, workshops, and makerspaces across India. What starts as curiosity at a single bench now grows into a culture of experimentation, collaboration, and real-world problem-solving.
Dr. Hemant Kanakia
“I’m so excited for what’s going on in India. It is actually the number one hotspot in the world. The public is passionate about science and engineering, and you have both a national and MBF’s foundational effort driving incredible progress. With all the attendees at the IAMS and the many makerspaces across India, I’m really happy to jump on this moving train.“
Craig Forest
MIT PhD in Mechanical Engineering
Professor, Georgia Tech
Announcements
Inauguration
Tinkerers’ Lab is coming to IIT Jodhpur on 15th October! This marks the 5th of 13 labs to be inaugurated in 2025, bringing our total to 24 Tinkerers’ Labs nationwide.
