Low-Tech Innovation Program
We offer equipped collaborative spaces, practical training and support programmes to foster innovation, design and craftsmanship. Through our prototyping, mentoring and community engagement services, we promote creative entrepreneurship, social inclusion and sustainability.
Overview of the project
The Low-Tech Innovation Program is an open-source research and documentation initiative aimed at promoting frugal innovation while fostering its development. Structured around three complementary phases, the program supports low-tech innovations from their discovery to their incubation.
The first phase, the Low-Tech Tour, is a traveling project that explores, identifies, and highlights exemplary local initiatives. By visiting different territories, it documents and disseminates open-source solutions that address ecological and social challenges, while strengthening the skills, autonomy, and resilience of local communities.
The second phase, the Low-Tech Innovation Camp, is a collaborative residency dedicated to research, design, and prototyping of sustainable open-source solutions. This camp fosters collective creativity, hands-on experimentation, and knowledge sharing among participants from diverse backgrounds.
Finally, the third phase, EXPLORE, is an 18-month incubation program designed to support the development of sustainable hardware solutions in the fields of energy, housing, mobility, food, agriculture, and circular economy. It provides technical, operational, and financial support to transform prototypes into high-impact projects.
Through this comprehensive approach, IROKO Fablab positions itself as a catalyst for change, demonstrating that low-tech approaches represent an essential pathway toward a more responsible and sustainable future.
Promote frugal innovation and accelerate its development.
Ongoing research
Programme still ongoing
During the tour, more than 10 endogenous innovations were identified, tested and documented. More than 50 participants attended the first edition of the low-tech innovation camp, with 12 project prototypes in areas such as energy, food and agriculture.
For participants, the programme provides an opportunity to acquire practical skills in low-tech design and manufacturing, strengthen collaborative working and project management, raise awareness of sustainability and social innovation issues, create reusable prototypes and develop their network with experts and stakeholders in the ecological transition. For the community, it promotes the transfer of know-how, the implementation of concrete solutions adapted to local needs, technological autonomy, and the promotion of recycling and the circular economy.
The project was funded thanks to technical and financial support from several partners, including Make-IT/GIZ, Low-Tech Lab and UNDP.
organisation
We offer equipped collaborative spaces, practical training and support programmes to foster innovation, design and craftsmanship. Through our prototyping, mentoring and community engagement services, we promote creative entrepreneurship, social inclusion and sustainability.