Milena Popova
Programme & Business Development Manager , Europeana Foundation
Nicole McNeilly
Impact Advisor , Europeana Foundation
#MakeWithEuropeana: Makers market pilot report
Europeana releases its report of the makers market and sets out recommendations for our future approach to reaching this segment of the creative industries.
In 2017, we recognised makers as a business development opportunity for Europeana and committed to investigate this creative industries submarket in a small pilot.
The pilot consisted of two phases. The first phase was theoretical and involved in-depth desk research into the maker movement from a wide variety of online sources. Phase two covered a nine-month practical experiment to gather first-hand experiences on the maker market, evaluate the attractiveness of our reuse offer to makers as well as the potential impact we could have.
This practical experiment included an industry consultation, a promotional campaign and an investigation of relevant content distribution formats. We interviewed selected professionals from various domains and countries (Europe and North America) and with direct (international) experience with the maker communities. The promotional campaign included attendance at selected makers events and three online mini-campaigns on the Europeana Labs social media. Finally, we investigated the suitability of the various formats to bring content to makers, such as Pinterest boards and Europeana thematic collections.
The Makers market pilot report documents our makers research and field findings throughout 2017, and proposes recommendations about the next steps for Europeana on the makers market.
In brief, we will not pursue the maker market for the time being and will consider re-evaluation of this decision in two years. Meanwhile, we will monitor the maker market developments, focus on improving our 3D content offer and explore the link between makers and two other key markets for Europeana - education and cultural heritage institutions.