Maker Faire Rome Turning Innovation into a Contact Sport

By Billy Linehan

I'm heading to Rome this Friday to cover Maker Faire Rome 2025, one of Europe's most unusual and rewarding public festivals of creativity. It's hands-on, much of it outdoors, and full of trial and error. A fair where ideas are tested in real time, where invention is visible, and where innovation is freely shared - often across disciplines like science, art, engineering, craft and education.

Irish Tech News in Rome

Irish Tech News has been reporting from the fair since 2019. Each visit is a reminder that innovation isn't always polished or packaged. It often starts on a workbench, in the open, with artists, engineers, students and hobbyists figuring things out together.

What is Maker Faire Rome?

Maker Faire Rome brings together a broad mix of people. Inventors, students, researchers, hobbyists, entrepreneurs, teachers, public agencies and creatives all exhibit and explore projects side by side.

Projects range from robotics and drones to food printers and open-source AI. You'll find sustainability experiments, coding workshops, biohacking tools, DIY satellites and handmade musical instruments. Most exhibitors are selected through a public call, with no fees charged to those chosen. Ideas are picked based on originality, impact and usefulness.

The event is run by Innova Camera, an agency of the Rome Chamber of Commerce, under licence from Make Co in the US. It takes place at the Gazometro Ostiense, a former gasworks that has become a centre for urban innovation.

Where it started

The global maker movement began in the US in 2006, sparked by Make magazine. The Rome edition launched in 2013 and is now the largest in Europe. Since then, it has welcomed more than 800,000 visitors and hosted over 7,000 projects.

Last year saw around 45,000 visitors. This year, from 17 to 19 October, the fair expects similar numbers. Over 380 projects from more than 30 countries will be exhibited.

A fair, not a trade show

What sets Maker Faire Rome apart is its public focus. It is open to families, schools, professionals and the simply curious. The atmosphere is informal but informed. You don't just watch. You join in. You test devices. You ask questions. You see behind the scenes of invention.

Documentation is often open source. Visitors are encouraged to take ideas home, adapt them and build their own versions. It is very much about sharing knowledge, not selling products.

This year's theme is technology that can be understood, reused and shared. It is about putting tools into people's hands and showing what they can do.

AI is present but not highlighted

"There's no AI pavilion this year because AI is part of everything now," says curator Alessandro Ranellucci. "It's embedded in classrooms, mobility aids and diagnostic tools. We want people to see what AI is doing, not just label it."

That reflects the overall mood of the event. Less marketing, more explanation. Less flash, more usefulness.

Five projects to watch

A few of the featured projects show the diversity on offer:

Life4All from Brazil uses AI to reduce delays in organ transplant logistics

• Plastic Reuse System from Nigeria turns local plastic waste into usable household items

• Demetra from Italy combines fish farming with hydroponic growing to create closed-loop food production

• A Modular RISC-V PC from Hong Kong teaches the basics of AI and hardware design using open components

• Fare Luce sul Caos from Italy solves routing problems using light instead of silicon

For kids and schools too

The fair also caters for children and young learners. The Education and Gaming area includes coding challenges, Minecraft maths games and science labs that welcome hands-on participation.

Italian research centres such as CNR and design schools like IED bring inclusive design and sensory projects for classrooms. The robotics section, co-hosted with I-RIM, includes talks, demos and a visit from the SPQR robot team of Sapienza Unive...