Building a sustainable startup ecosystem relies on inspiring a generation of young people to get excited about science, engineering, and technology, according to Make: magazine editor-in-chief Keith Hammond.
While Qatar possesses an active startup ecosystem, bringing Maker Faire to the country could complement existing entrepreneurship initiatives by providing hands-on technology education for children and families.
“Maker Faire is many things: It’s a celebration of invention and creativity with technology...it brings together a community of people who are tech-savvy, but inventive, trying to create new devices to make a better world,” Hammond told Gulf Times on the sidelines of Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition.
Hammond noted that creating early excitement among youth is foundational for any long-term innovation ecosystem.
“If a country wants to build a thriving startup ecosystem, it needs a generation of young people excited about innovation, whether that means exploring space, building robots to help their grandparents, or pursuing entirely new ideas. That kind of excitement is exactly what Maker Faire inspires,” Hammond explained.
Hammond agreed that hosting such an event in Qatar aligns with the country’s educational investments and family-oriented culture, offering affordable access to digital tools.
“If we don’t want powerful companies or countries dictating our future, we must empower our own people to understand technology, take control of it, and use it to build the future they want to see,” Hammond said.
He added that modern maker education exposes students in schools and libraries to digital fabrication tools, 3D printing, and artificial intelligence, replacing traditional shop classes with digital skills.
PancakeBot co-creator Miguel Valenzuela shared how the maker mindset transformed his family’s life, taking an idea from his kitchen table to the White House.
The idea began when Valenzuela read a Make: magazine article about using LEGO elements to build a pancake stamping machine. His three-and-a-half-year-old daughter, Lily Penelope, misheard the story and told her sister Maia that their father was going to build a “pamcake” machine out of LEGO bricks.
“She had provided the scope and the framework. It had to make pancakes, it had to be a machine, and it had to be made entirely out of LEGO bricks,” Valenzuela said.
After months of trial and error, the family successfully created a working prototype, displaying it at the 2012 World Maker Faire in New York. By 2014, Valenzuela had developed an Arduino-based version, leading to an invitation to exhibit at the first-and-only White House Maker Faire under President Barack Obama.
Valenzuela stressed that Maker Faire gives children early exposure to public speaking and problem-solving, removing the fear of failure.
“My daughters have been participating in shows since they were about five years old. Through those experiences, they developed the confidence and communication skills to speak comfortably with anyone. Put them on stage, and they have no stage fright: They can discuss innovation, answer questions, and engage with an audience. They have adopted a mindset of, ‘Let’s make it. Let’s do it,’” Valenzuela said.
He emphasised that Maker Faire activities offer hands-on participation, making it a natural fit for Qatar’s emphasis on family and community.
“Ninety percent of the activities here offer children some way to participate, engage, or interact. Maker Faire gives you permission to play—to be a kid again. Hosting something like this in Qatar would provide a valuable platform for the world to see what the country has to offer,” Valenzuela noted.
Valenzuela pointed out that the Maker Movement also embraces the principles of STEAM, or science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics, arguing that creativity is as important as technical skills in encouraging innovation. He noted that technologies such as generative AI can serve as tools for creative expression.
At the same time, Maker Faires around the world showcase how engineering and design come together in imaginative projects.
Referring to Qatar's cultural heritage, Valenzuela said artistic expression, from religious iconography to mathematical tessellations in Islamic design, reflects how art, culture and science intersect. He added that technology should be viewed as a tool that enables creativity and expression, stressing that societies are shaped not only by technological advancement but also by the art and culture that bring a human dimension to innovation.
