Possibility spaces for citizen-driven innovations? Classification and functions of urban makerspaces in Bengaluru, India

Stuti Haldar and Gautam Sharma

International Journal of Green Economics, 2022, vol. 16, issue 2, 148-164

Abstract: Makerspaces are shared workshops for the public to design, innovate and prototype. These spaces are primarily located in the urban regions and provide access to 'high-tech' and traditional low-tech tools needed for innovation design. Though makerspaces are a western phenomenon, their emergence in India can be traced to the early decade of the 2010s. In this paper, we study the urban makerspaces in Bengaluru, India, to explore its distinctions from the western conceptualisation. The city of Bengaluru is regarded as the technology and innovation capital of India and is also home to several makerspaces. We employ a qualitative research design and collect data through primary and secondary means. The findings point out the complexities and multifaceted nature of makerspaces in terms of their mode of operation, location and profile of actors/members, motives of operating and functions performed. The makerspaces in Bengaluru are predominantly informal spaces of innovation nested within or financed by formal institutions, such as enterprises, universities and government funding agencies.

Keywords: makerspaces; maker movement; informal innovations; India; circular economy; resilient manufacturing. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.inderscience.com/link.php?id=127908 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ids:ijgrec:v:16:y:2022:i:2:p:148-164

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in International Journal of Green Economics from Inderscience Enterprises Ltd
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sarah Parker ().