Get ready for Dublin Maker on Merrion Square on 23 July

11 Jul 2016

Children at Dublin Maker 2015. Image via Orlaith Ross/Dublin Maker

Dublin Maker, one of the city’s biggest science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) events, returns to Merrion Square on 23 July, with people of all ages being encouraged to come and unleash their creativity.

At some point if your life you’ve probably had an idea for a product you think will change the world, but have never had the forum to actually go about creating it.

Well, that’s where events like Dublin Maker come in. Running for a number of years now, it will be returning to Merrion Square to host its latest day-long festival for people of all ages as part of this year’s Festival of Curiosity.

Those who attended the Inspirefest Fringe festival on the Saturday will remember the input from Dublin Maker, which was there to help everyone build something incredible.

For those unfamiliar, however, Dublin Maker describes its mission as being to entertain, inform and connect the makers of Ireland, while also inspiring the next generation of Ireland’s makers and inventors.

New hackspace and demonstration stage

Just to give you a flavour of what you can expect to try out by visiting the event, Dublin Maker suggest things like assembling a skateboard, inventing a language or painting a masterpiece in electric paint.

Similarly, there’s also the chance to step into virtual reality, build a robot, create your own movie special effects, or even just find out how beer is brewed.

More importantly, attendees will get the chance to talk to the established makers who put their time and dedication into the event and who are willing to pass on their wealth of experience.

This year also marks a first for Dublin Maker, with the announcement of a new hackspace and demonstration stage, with talks, demonstrations and live music occurring in tandem with the making.

There’s also a food area and chill-out zone for those who need to refuel during the long day.

To give you a taste of what’s expected at Dublin Maker, here’s how it and other organisations got on at Inspirefest 2016.

Colm Gorey was a senior journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com