Remaking the Maker Movement
QUT Faculty of Business and Law
Wednesday, 3 February 2021
10:00 am to 5:00 pm
Z1064, Gibson Room, Level 10, Z Block
QUT Gardens Point Campus
OVERVIEW
This event will focus on the role of innovation spaces — such as makerspaces, Fab Labs, hackerspaces, TechShop, and innovation hubs, incubators, and accelerators. This workshop will consider the evolution, growth, and transformation of innovation spaces. It will consider the demise of TechShop, the evolution of Fab Labs, as well as the reconstitution of the Maker Movement.
This event will consider how such innovation spaces manage intellectual property — including copyright, trade marks, designs, patents, and trade secrets. It will also explore how the Maker Movement draws upon open licensing — such as through open source software, open source hardware, and the Creative Commons.
This workshop will also consider the social role of innovation spaces in training, education, social enterprises, community-building and peace-making. This event will also consider the role of innovation spaces in the achievement of the sustainable development goals — especially with UNDP’s Accelerator Labs.
This event will also focus upon how such innovation spaces responded to the public health disruption of the coronavirus COVID-19, together with the economic interruptions to the supply chain.
This event will feature a cross-section of speakers from the maker movement — including creators and makers; managers and hosts of innovation spaces; as well as academic researchers in the field.
This event is supported by an ARC Discovery Grant on Intellectual Property and 3D Printing.
Photograph Credit QUT Centre for Materials Science
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL OWNERS
We acknowledge the Turrbal and Yugara peoples as the First Nation owners of the lands of where QUT now stands. For thousands of years the Turrbal and Yugara people have gathered along the banks of Maiwar, the Brisbane River, to share their knowledge and stories. We pay our respects to their Elders, lores, customs, and creation spirits. We recognise that these lands where QUT now stands have always been places of teaching, researching and learning. We acknowledge the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people play within our QUT community. From Moreton Bay, inland as far as the Great Dividing Range near Warwick and Toowoomba. As far north as the Caboolture River including the lands around Brisbane city, Meanjin. Yeru yeru yinala balka bebalka (greeting, come and gather) ngai nuguru nguru (my ancestor spirits) mara makura (share old stories and teachings); nunya birralee (thank you sky country) nunya Biame (thank you God). Welcome to the traditional country of the Turrbal and Yugara people.
Session 1 — University Makerspaces (10:00 am — 11:00 am)
10:00 am — 10:20 am
Drivers for Entrepreneurship and Creativity at University
Professor Rowena Barrett, Executive Director, QUT Entrepreneurship
Abstract
In this presentation Rowena will outline the ways in which QUT invests in entrepreneurial action. She will explain what entrepreneurship is and how it amplifies discipline learning. Importantly she will highlight the role creativity and making plays in entrepreneurship and discuss some of the opportunities and challenges of increasing this activity across the university.
Biography
Professor Rowena Barrett is an expert in thinking innovatively and being entrepreneurial to get things done. She leads QUT Entrepreneurship, a whole-of-university initiative to provide and connect learning opportunities enabling all QUT students and staff to develop their entrepreneurship mindset, capability and competence.
Rowena is an experienced and authentic leader who brings integrity, purpose and commitment to engaging people across many domains inside and outside the university around entrepreneurship. She brings academic and practical understanding of motivations and drivers for entrepreneurship. She seeks to ensure QUT plays a key role in the wider entrepreneurial ecosystem and runs a range of events and learning programs to connect and engage with the community.
10:20 am — 10:40 am
Regional Academic Makerspaces
Stephanie Piper, University of Southern Queensland
Abstract
The University of Southern Queensland Library Makerspace is a hub for students to work on hands-on projects. From 3D printing and 3D scanning to Arduino and electronics, students and staff from all disciplines can use the space for projects. Steph Piper will talk through the facilities, services and equipment in this space and local projects that have driven innovation and manufacturing capacity in regional Toowoomba. Hear about medical prototyping, PPE projects, and the vast potential of the next generation of digital fabrication equipment. Learn the importance of building self-sufficiency in regional and rural areas through library makerspaces.
Biography
Stephanie Piper is the Community Engagement Coordinator at USQ, looking after the library Makerspace. She is also co-founder of Elkei Education, introducing electronics skills and positive role models to young girls. With a background in biofabrication, Steph also teaches classes in 3D printing, Arduino and Hardware development. For more info, see www.piper3dp.com
10:40 am — 11:00 am
The Journey of Building a World-Class Educational Makerspace at The University of Queensland
Vince Kelly, The University of Queensland
Abstract
The presentation explores the journey of delivering the new ‘UQ Innovate’ educational makerspace at The University of Queensland (UQ). From identifying the facility requirements, through to execution of the project and running of the space, the elements of success and lessons from failures are discussed. Also discussed is the role a makerspace plays in the broader entrepreneurial and innovation (E&I) ecosystem.
Biography
Mr. Vince Kelly is the Innovation Group Manager, located within the Engineering Architecture & Information Technology Faculty of The University of Queensland (UQ). Having joined in 2017, Vince’s mission has been directed towards the building of a world class teaching, learning and research technical support capacity across the Faculty. With a professional interest in the field of Innovation, he is currently studying a Masters of Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UQ. Vince describes his current career focus as being in the ‘ideas business’.
His previous work history has primarily been manufacturing operations management roles within the industrial sector. After completing dual degrees in Engineering and Business at QUT in the early nineties, he commenced working within the automotive industry across multiple technical roles. Transitioning to the construction and building materials sector, Vince held various engineering and management roles within multinational companies such as Boral and James Hardie, as well as a number of other national and locally based industrial firms. An exponent of ‘Lean’ management principles, his professional focus was directed towards driving efficiency and continuous improvement initiatives.
11:00 am — 11:20 am
An Ecosystem Approach to Makerspace Sustainability within a Digital Innovation Precinct in Johannesburg, South Africa
Mia van Zyl, Tshimologong (TMG) Makerspace, University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg
Abstract
This presentation explains and highlights who we are as TMG Makerspace, a digital fabrication and prototyping co-working space located within Tshimologong Precinct, the digital innovation incubator of WITS University, Johannesburg, South Africa. The focus of the presentation is an ecosystem approach to crafting a sustainable future for our Makerspace together with partners, talent, industry and funders.
The following three points form the basis of our value system as the Tshimologong Makers Group (TMG):
– A shared culture of co-creation, collaboration and community building;
– Accessibility to the means and resources for innovation, and
– Generosity with knowledge and skills sharing.
As co-manager and fellow founding member of TMG Makerspace from 2018 onwards, Mia shares the journey of this predominantly Gauteng based community of digital and creative tech entrepreneurs, and how we have developed and formalised our talents, skills and Maker culture into a set of value offerings to serve its communities of influence. TMG serves its own members with enterprise development and tech development support; we serve the entrepreneurial community of Tshimologong Precinct with design, prototyping, and fabrication services; and we serve the Precinct itself with pre-incubation services for its talent pipeline, experiential learning and development programmes for corporate and academic partners, and the general public with commercial fabrication and consultation services.
TMG Makerspace is an active member of the South African Maker Collective, a semi-formalised network of Makerspaces, Maker communities, tinkerers and fabricators around the country.
Biography
M!a (Mia van Zyl) is a South African designer-maker based in Johannesburg, specialising in accessible innovation, creative facilitation and coordination. Mia is a co-founder and co-manager of TMG Makerspace, hosted within Tshimologong Precinct, the digital innovation incubator of WITS University (2018 onwards).
From 2014 onwards Mia became passionately involved in the Maker movement and co-creates alongside various makerspaces around South Africa; participating in, coordinating and fostering Maker events, talks, conferences and collaborations. In the ‘Maker family’ she finds a like-minded community of change-makers to collaborate with and develop and implement the message of ‘Make (or mend) it yourself. Learn something, teach something. Share knowledge and skills generously. Change the world’. Her dream and goal is to find, create and sustain connections and opportunities between Makers [brilliant hands + minds + hearts] and the resources that make this positive change possible, whether through events showcases, edifying collaborations or future Maker residencies.
Session 2 — Scientific Makerspaces (11:30 am — 11:50 am)
11:30 am — 11:50 am
Soft Matter Materials Laboratory
Dr Sarah Walden, QUT
Abstract
3D printing is a ubiquitous fabrication method in advanced manufacturing. Whilst many methods of 3D printing have been developed, light-based techniques are particularly attractive due to the spatio-temporal control and high precision in the delivered energy. In this talk I will highlight some of our research group’s work in developing novel light-based 3D printing resists designed for a myriad of different applications.
Biography
Sarah L. Walden received a B.Math/BAppSc(Phys) (Hons) from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia, in 2012. She then went on to complete a PhD investigating the nonlinear optical properties of semiconductor nanoparticles in 2017. Her research interests are in the area of light-matter interactions and nonlinear optical properties of materials. She is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow between the Soft Matter Materials Laboratory at QUT and the Karsluhe Institute of Technology (KIT), investigating new materials for sub-diffraction resolution lithography.
11:50 am — 12:10 pm
Bioprinting, the Internet of Bodies, Intellectual Property, and Human Rights
Dr Bruce Baer Arnold, the University of Canberra
Abstract
The ‘right to health’ raises fundamental questions about intellectual property law rather than merely rationing of public/private health services to those most in need, most in pain or most able to pay for a spot at the front of the queue. This presentation explores making, IP and regulation by discussing bioprinting and the internet of bodies (IoB). Bioprinting (aka biofabrication) — a next generation technology — promises to revolutionise healthcare through the printing of skin, organs and bone using material cultured from a recipient. That blue sky contrasts with the emergence of conventional 3D printing for the internet of bodies, in other words one-off making by health service providers of medical devices that range from prosthetic limbs and joints through to smart implantable monitors, pumps and other tools as a subset of the inanimate internet of things. Literature about the IOB has centred on tracking and the human right to privacy. There has been less attention to patent, affordability and medical device regulation. The presentation introduces bioprinting and 3D printing aspects of the IoB, highlights patent challenges, and argues that the right to health offers a lens for resolving questions about access, device regulation and IP.
Biography
Dr Arnold teaches technology and intellectual property law at the University of Canberra. He has a particular interest in disruptive technologies such as robotics and 3D printing, alongside regulatory capture and human rights in high technology markets. Recent publication has considered law around cryonics and rights language around implants.
12:10 pm — 12:30 pm
Shane Rattenbury, The Productivity Commission, and The Right To Repair: Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development
Professor Matthew Rimmer, QUT
Abstract
This presentation considers the role of the maker movement in the debate over the right to repair in Australia against the background of a larger discussion of intellectual property and sustainable development. It examines the advocacy of ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury on calling for the Productivity Commission to conduct a research investigation into the right to repair. This talk draws upon a 2020 interview with Shane Rattenbury — as well as fieldwork at Substation33, and engagement with civil society organisations. This paper considers the role of innovation spaces — such as repair cafes, fab labs, and makerspaces — in developing a culture of recycling and repair. It also considers the UNDRP’s establishment of a network of Accelerator Labs to accelerate the realization of the United Nation’s Sustainable Development goals. This presentation contends that Australia’s intellectual property laws are fragmented and fractured in the ways, in which they deal with the right to repair. It calls upon the Productivity Commission to push for law reform to enable a holistic approach to the right to repair under Australia’s intellectual property laws. This paper argues that there is a need to recognize a broad right to repair in Australia in order to enhance consumer rights, and competition policy. Moreover, as ACT Attorney-General Shane Rattenbury has argued, the recognition of a right to repair will also support a circular economy, sustainable development, and climate action in Australia.
Biography
Dr Matthew Rimmer is a Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Faculty of Business and Law, at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has published widely on copyright law and information technology, patent law and biotechnology, access to medicines, plain packaging of tobacco products, intellectual property and climate change, Indigenous Intellectual Property, and intellectual property and trade. He is undertaking research on intellectual property and 3D printing; the regulation of robotics and artificial intelligence; and intellectual property and public health (particularly looking at the coronavirus COVID-19). His work is archived at QUT ePrints, SSRN Abstracts, Bepress Selected Works, and Open Science Framework.
Rimmer is currently working as a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project on ‘Inventing The Future: Intellectual Property and 3D Printing’ (2017–2020). This project aims to provide guidance for industry and policy-makers about intellectual property, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and innovation policy. It will consider the evolution of 3D printing, and examine its implications for the creative industries, branding and marketing, manufacturing and robotics, clean technologies, health-care and the digital economy. The project will examine how 3D printing disrupts copyright law, designs law, trade mark law, patent law and confidential information. The project expects to provide practical advice about intellectual property management and commercialisation, and boost Australia’s capacity in advanced manufacturing and materials science. Along with Dinusha Mendis and Mark Lemley, Rimmer is the editor of the collection, 3D Printing and Beyond: Intellectual Property and Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2019). He is also engaged in fieldwork on makerspaces, fab labs, tech shops, Maker Faires, and hackerspaces; and has been conducting interviews with members of the Maker Movement.
Session 3 — Community Makerspaces (1:30 pm — 2:30 pm)
1:30 pm — 1:50 pm
Tool Libraries: Innovation Hubs for Economic Degrowth
Sabrina Chakori, Brisbane Tool Library Inc.
Abstract
Founded in 2017 by Sabrina Chakori, the Brisbane Tool Library enables people to borrow tools, camping and sports gear, party appliances and other equipment saved from landfill. The Brisbane Tool Library work aims to build a degrowth (postgrowth) economy, by creating sustainable communities through sharing resources and skills. The Brisbane Tool Library is the first tool library, or “library of things”, in Queensland, and the first and only one in Australia to be located within a public library, in the State Library of Queensland.
In this seminar presentation, Sabrina Chakori will introduce economic degrowth principles and community-driven circular economy models. Tool libraries are innovation hubs that could profoundly transform the economy. Tool libraries help to reduce the ecological footprint of its members, while saving them money and space. Moreover, by implementing structured sharing systems, these hubs contribute to a re-localisation of the economy and a reduction of inequalities in urban areas. Tool libraries offer an alternative to the current productivist and consumerist growth-driven system. By recreating the commons, society can achieve a more socially just and ecologically sustainable society.
Biography
Sabrina holds a BSc. in Biology (University of Geneva — Switzerland), a MSc. in Environmental Economics (The University of Queensland) and she is currently finishing a PhD research that explores food packaging reduction in food systems within a degrowth economy. Her study is an interdisciplinary research between the School of Agriculture — Food Science and the School of Business of the University of Queensland. Sabrina is a passionate systems modeller (systems thinking, system dynamics, network analysis). She believes that systems methods are crucial to understand and tackle current socio-economic wicked problems.
Sabrina is convinced that to solve the interlinked social and ecological crisis we need to change the roots of our economy, shifting away from the growth-driven system. To translate into practice her knowledge and vision, in 2017, she founded the Brisbane Tool Library, a social enterprise that based on a circular economy aims to reduce household consumption.
Sabrina worked in different countries, including Kenya, Mexico, Ecuador, Australia and across Europe. For more than a decade, she has been advocating for a more environmentally sustainable society, leading numerous collaborations, including an initiative with Queensland’s Environment Minister to introduce the law banning single-use plastic bags.
Founder, researcher, keynote speaker, and most of all activist, Sabrina is fully invested in creating systemic change that would build a more socially just and ecologically sustainable economy.
1:50 pm-2:10 pm
DIY and Making in Low Socioeconomic Communities
Dr Dhaval Vyas, The University of Queensland
Abstract
Based on three years of ethnographic work in a variety of makerspaces around Queensland, I am going to discuss four values associated with DIY and making in low socioeconomic communities. These are 1) Making to improve living; 2) Making as carework; 3) Meta-making and 4) Making as therapy. These values add to the ongoing discourse of DIY and emphasize the importance of Makerspaces for local communities.
Biography
Dr Dhaval Vyas is an ARC DECRA fellow and Senior Lecturer at the University of Queensland. He works in the area of Human-Centered Computing. His research focuses on designing IT tools to support marginalised communities in Australia. Dhaval has a PhD in Human-Computer Interaction from University of Twente, the Netherlands and Masters in Computer Science from Lancaster University, UK.
2:10 pm — 2:30 pm
Open Prosthetics: Intellectual Property, 3D Printing, Medical Innovation, and Disability Rights
Professor Matthew Rimmer, QUT
Abstract
This paper considers the role of open innovation makerspaces in the development of prosthetics. In terms of its methodology, this project has relied upon qualitative interviews with key figures in the maker community, as well as field visits to makerspaces. This paper in particular been informed by interviews with open source 3D printing practitioners in the European Union, seeking to address public health, access to medicines and research tools, and disability rights. Part 1 of this paper focuses upon MSF relying upon 3D printing in a refugee camp in Jordan to provide prosthetics for those from the region with disability needs. Part 2 examines a medical 3D printing project run Thomas Maal and Lars Brouwers at Radboud University in Nijmegen in both the Netherlands and Sierra Leone. Part 3 explores the Careables project in Belgium. It focuses upon legal considerations in respect of privacy and data protection; intellectual property; product liability; and medical regulation. The conclusion considers the wider scope for open licensing in respect of 3D printing in the fields of prosthetics and medicine. It also makes recommendations for the expansion of disability rights in respect of intellectual property law.
Biography
Dr Matthew Rimmer is a Professor in Intellectual Property and Innovation Law at the Faculty of Business and Law, at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT). He has published widely on copyright law and information technology, patent law and biotechnology, access to medicines, plain packaging of tobacco products, intellectual property and climate change, Indigenous Intellectual Property, and intellectual property and trade. He is undertaking research on intellectual property and 3D printing; the regulation of robotics and artificial intelligence; and intellectual property and public health (particularly looking at the coronavirus COVID-19). His work is archived at QUT ePrints, SSRN Abstracts, Bepress Selected Works, and Open Science Framework.
Rimmer is currently working as a Chief Investigator on an ARC Discovery Project on ‘Inventing The Future: Intellectual Property and 3D Printing’ (2017–2020). This project aims to provide guidance for industry and policy-makers about intellectual property, three-dimensional (3D) printing, and innovation policy. It will consider the evolution of 3D printing, and examine its implications for the creative industries, branding and marketing, manufacturing and robotics, clean technologies, health-care and the digital economy. The project will examine how 3D printing disrupts copyright law, designs law, trade mark law, patent law and confidential information. The project expects to provide practical advice about intellectual property management and commercialisation, and boost Australia’s capacity in advanced manufacturing and materials science. Along with Dinusha Mendis and Mark Lemley, Rimmer is the editor of the collection, 3D Printing and Beyond: Intellectual Property and Regulation (Edward Elgar, 2019). He is also engaged in fieldwork on makerspaces, fab labs, tech shops, Maker Faires, and hackerspaces; and has been conducting interviews with members of the Maker Movement.
Session 4 — Makerspaces and the Law (3:00 pm — 4:00 pm)
3:00–3:20 pm
The Role and Patent Infringement Liability of Fab Labs and Community Makerspaces in COVID-19 Response
Dr Muhammad Zaheer Abbas, QUT
Abstract
The rapid spread of COVID-19 created an unprecedented demand for critical medical equipment. 3D printing is uniquely well-positioned to support the shortage of critical medical devices in a health emergency by enabling customization and printing of devices in a timely and cost-effective manner. Makerspaces for 3D printing play a key role in community-driven distributed manufacturing by providing enabling ecosystem for active engagement of the informal Maker community. Makerspaces, also called hacker spaces or Maker labs, are places that are equipped with tools, materials, and software that allow users or members to make and innovate things alongside each other by learning and sharing their projects. A Fab Lab is a kind of Makerspace that follows a charter and is governed by a foundation. Makerspaces enjoy the flexibility to rethink and reshape their services and resources in the light of changing societal needs in a health emergency. This study identifies and documents the invaluable contributions of Makerspaces for 3D printing as enablers of both localized supply-chains and problem-solving innovation in response to COVID-19. In community Makerspaces, users can potentially infringe on other’s patent rights by using the enabling ecosystem for 3D printing. This study provides a perspective of the contributory patent infringement liability challenges faced by community Makerspaces. This study is important because the sustainability of the Maker response during this and future pandemics relies heavily on smoothly functioning community Makerspaces.
Biography
Dr. Muhammad Zaheer Abbas is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Faculty of Business and Law, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Brisbane, Australia. In this role, he is working with Professor Matthew Rimmer on his Australian Research Council Discovery Project ‘Inventing the Future: Intellectual Property and 3D Printing’. He recently completed PhD in Law at QUT as a recipient of QUT Postgraduate Research Award. He studied Law at International Islamic University (IIU), Islamabad, Pakistan, and obtained LLB (Hons) with distinction in 2010. He also obtained LLM in International Law, with distinction, from the same university in 2012. He served as a Lecturer in Law at Faculty of Law, IIU, and has nearly 10 years of teaching and/ or research experience. He also served as Associate Editor of ‘Islamabad Law Review’, a peer reviewed open access research journal of IIU. He has published 18 peer-reviewed research papers, mostly related to intellectual property protection and the public interest. His notable research publications include:
- ‘Strategic Use of Patent Opposition Safeguard to Improve Access to Innovative Health Technologies: A Case Study of CAR T-Cell Therapy Kymriah’ (2020) Global Public Health
- ‘COVID-19 and the Global Public Health: Tiered Pricing of Pharmaceutical Drugs as a Price-Reducing Policy Tool’ (2020) Journal of Generic Medicines
- ‘Conflicting Interests, Competing Perspectives and Policy Incoherence: COVID-19 Highlights the Significance of the UN High-Level Panel Report on Access to Medicines’ (2020) 31 Australian Intellectual Property Journal 24–42
- ‘Treatment of the Novel COVID-19: Why Costa Rica’s Proposal for the Creation of a Global Pooling Mechanism Deserves Serious Consideration?’ (2020) 7(1) Journal of Law and the Biosciences 1–10
- ‘WTO Paragraph 6 System for Affordable Access to Medicines: Relief or Regulatory Ritualism’ (2018) 21(1–2) Journal of World Intellectual Property 32–51
In 2014, Dr. Abbas got an opportunity to attend the “Winter Institute” held at the College of William & Mary, Virginia, and Georgetown University, Washington D.C. In 2018, he attended the ‘15th WTO-WIPO Colloquium for Teachers of Intellectual Property’ held at Geneva, Switzerland. In the same year, he attended the ‘Fifth Global Congress on IP and the Public Interest’ held at American University Washington College of Law, Washington D.C. In 2020, he presented his research findings at the virtual ‘Intellectual Property Scholars Conference’ organized by Stanford University, California, USA.
3:20pm-3:40 pm
Homo Deus: The Promise of Legal Imagination for New Technologies in Innovative Industries
Dr Anne Matthew, QUT
Abstract
Harari has argued that the most ingenious human invention was the greatest figment of legal imagination: the company. As we know, the company is simply a device — an artificial legal person whose easy creation was made possible by legislators the better part of 200 years ago. Since then, Harari argues, legal imagination has stalled; scientific imagination has not. This presentation takes up this gauntlet thrown down by Harari. Thinking differently and creatively may be a necessity if humanity is to stand a chance to keep a step ahead of the legal policy problems arising amidst the rapid technological advancements in robotics and artificial intelligence, the creative use of algorithms and the rich and expansive datasets that serve as platforms for their training and behaviour. This presentation outlines the earliest stages of a collaborative research project (Guihot, Rimmer, Matthew, Arnold, Dootson) exploring the innovation law and policy challenges arising with robotics in innovative industries. This presentation will canvas the possibilities that may be afforded by the creation of a new legal fiction to better cope with the technological reality in which we find ourselves.
Biography
Dr Anne Matthew is a Senior Lecturer at QUT Law School, a Consultant at Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Lawyers, and Chair of the Expert Advisory Group on Micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) National Coordination Committee, Australia.
Anne studies how regulation can create an enabling environment for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, including particularly their access to finance. Anne’s research focuses on companies, particularly those engaged in innovation and entrepreneurship, including in particular start-ups in innovative industries. Anne also uses corporate law and innovation economics as a lens to develop solutions for policy problems arising with innovative industries. Innovation, entrepreneurship, and risk-taking play a pivotal role in economic growth and should be encouraged in a modern economy. Anne’s PhD thesis considered how to best position the legal environment created by corporate law to encourage these phenomena, particularly among start-up ventures. Her thesis explored this question by examining select elements of Australian corporate law through the lens of innovation economics, and broke new ground in doing so. Anne’s thesis was recently awarded QUT’s Outstanding Thesis Award. Anne’s forthcoming publications include a monograph, Risk, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Corporate Law (Routledge, 2021).
Anne teaches postgraduate and undergraduate programs in international commercial arbitration, international commercial law and finance, innovation law, corporate law and the mitigation of risks arising with emerging technologies including artificial intelligence and robots.
3:40 pm — 4:00 pm
Automating Cities: Welcome to the Machine Metropolis
Brydon Timothy Wang, QUT
Abstract
From 3D-printed houses, the integration of industrial robots in on-site construction processes, to the large-scale assemblages of floating platforms to create hybrid floating cities, and FAB Labs, we are witnessing the phenomenal impact that automation processes have in mechanising and digitising our way of life and the design, construction and operation of our cities. How will our governance frameworks and the law respond to these automation processes — both in the mechanisation and digitising of cities — is a question that is explored in the newly published edited collection, Automating Cities: Design, Construction, Operation and Future Impact (Springer). This seminar presentation by the lead editor summarises the learnings presented in the book — both the cutting edge technologies and their impact on society.
Biography
Brydon is a Lecturer with the QUT School of Law and is a technology and construction lawyer passionate about smart city technology, infrastructure delivery and new ways people can come together to live, work and play. He has a previous career in architecture and was recently lead editor on the recently published book Automating Cities (Springer). Prior to coming to the law, Brydon was a Project Manager with the Public Transport Authority (WA) and worked as a Contracts Administrator in a number of leading commercial construction firms. Brydon has also taught at the Master of Architecture and Master of Data Science programmes at the University of Queensland. He is currently researching the legal implications of trustworthy automated decision-making systems, particularly machine superintendence in construction contracts.
Session 5 — International Makerspaces (4:00 pm — 5:00 pm)
4:00 pm — 4:20 pm
Institutionalisation and Informal Innovation in South African Maker Communities
Dr Chris Armstrong, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg; University of Ottawa; and Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network
Abstract
This presentation explores the current modalities at play in respect of institutionalisation and informal innovation in maker communities in South Africa. Research in 2016–18 generated data on more than 30 maker communities across South Africa. The data provide insights into a number of management, spatial and activity variables present in the practices of the maker communities and their members. This paper focuses on two of the dimensions found to be present when looking across the management, spatial and activity variables: institutionalisation and informal innovation. Institutionalisation is conceptualised as resulting in, and from: (1) formalisation of maker communities’ practices; (2) partnerships between maker communities and formal organisations; and (3) embedding of maker communities in formal organisations. Informal innovation is conceptualised as manifesting in: (1) constraint-based innovation; (2) incremental innovation; (3) collaborative innovation; (4) informal approaches to knowledge appropriation; and (5) innovation in informal networks/communities in informal settings. The data show that since the emergence of the maker movement in South Africa in roughly 2011, there has been an increase in institutionalisation of, and within, maker communities. At the same time, the data show that there continues to be a strong spirit of informality in the communities, with most of the communities, including the relatively more-institutionalised ones, actively seeking to preserve emphasis on informal-innovation modalities. A core conclusion is that, in the present stage of evolution of the South African maker movement, elements of institutionalisation appear to be largely offering synergies, rather than tensions, with the ethos of informal innovation. Such synergies are allowing South African maker communities to play intermediary, semi-formal roles, as mediating entities between formal and informal elements of the country’s innovation ecosystem.
Biography
Dr. Chris Armstrong is Research Associate, LINK Centre, University of the Witwatersrand (Wits), Johannesburg, South Africa; Senior Research Associate, Centre for Law, Technology and Society, University of Ottawa; and Researcher, Open African Innovation Research (Open AIR) network. Email: chris.armstrong@wits.ac.za, c.g.armstrong@uottawa.ca
4:20 pm — 4:40 pm
3D Printing and Intellectual Property
Professor Lucas Osborn, Campbell University Norman A. Wiggins School of Law
Abstract
Intellectual property (IP) laws were drafted for tangible objects, but 3D printing technology, which digitizes objects and offers manufacturing capacity to anyone, is disrupting these laws and their underlying policies. In his timely new book, Lucas S. Osborn focuses on the novel issues raised for IP law by 3D printing for the major IP systems around the world. He specifically addresses how patent and design law must wrestle with protecting digital versions of inventions and policing individualized manufacturing, how trademark law must confront the dissociation of design from manufacturing, and how patent and copyright law must be reconciled when digital versions of primarily utilitarian objects are concerned. With an even hand and keen insight, Osborn offers an innovation-centered analysis of and balanced response to the disruption caused by 3D printing that should be read by nonexperts and experts alike.
Biography
Lucas Osborn is an expert in the area of Intellectual Property Law, with a focus on Patent Law. He has authored over a dozen articles on intellectual property law, presented his research on three continents, and been quoted in the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News and local publications. His scholarship is highly cited and appears in law reviews such as Notre Dame Law Review, U.C. Davis Law Review, Cardozo Law Review, San Diego Law Review, and Stanford Technology Law Review.
Professor Osborn serves as the founder and director of Campbell Law School’s Intellectual Property Law Program. Before coming to Campbell Law, he clerked for the Honorable Kenneth M. Hoyt on the United States District Court for the Southern district of Texas and served as an attorney at a major international law firm where his practice focused on patent litigation, patent prosecution and intellectual property licensing. He is licensed to practice in front of the U.S. Patent and Trademark office and holds an of-counsel position at Michael Best & Friedrich.
His most recent works explore three-dimensional printing (3D printing) and other digital technology affects the law, particularly intellectual property law. He has published a book on the topic with Cambridge University Press titled 3D Printing and Intellectual Property. Professor Osborn also served for four years on the Confidentiality Commission within the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.
4:40 pm — 5:00 pm
International Perspectives on Disability Exceptions in Copyright Law and the Visual Arts: Feeling Art
Associate Professor Jani McCutcheon, The University of Western Australia
Abstract
Jani McCutcheon’s new book (co-edited with Ana Ramalho) provides an overview of disability exceptions to copyright infringement and the international and human rights legal framework for disability rights and exceptions. The focus is on those exceptions as they apply to visual art, while the book presents a comprehensive study of copyright’s disability exceptions per se and the international and human rights law framework in which they are situated.
3D printing now allows people with a visual impairment to experience 3D reproductions of paintings, drawings and photographs through touch. At the same time, the uncertain application of existing disability exceptions to these reproductions may generate concerns about legal risk, hampering sensory art projects and reducing inclusivity and equity in cultural engagement by people with a visual impairment. The work adopts an interdisciplinary approach, with contributions from diverse stakeholders, including persons with disabilities, cultural institutions and the 3D printing industry. The book sketches the scene relating to sensory art projects. Experts in intellectual property, human rights, disability and art law then critically analyse the current legal landscape relating to disability access to works of visual art at both international and regional levels, as well as across a broad representative sample of national jurisdictions, and identify where legal reform is required.
This comparative analysis of the laws aims to better inform stakeholders of the applicable legal landscape, the legal risks and opportunities associated with sensory art and the opportunities for reform and best practice guidelines, with the overarching goal of facilitating international harmonisation of the law and enhanced inclusivity.
Biography
Jani teaches and researches in the areas of intellectual property law and is the Law School’s Deputy Head of School, Teaching and Learning. Her research focuses on copyright and moral rights, particularly in the context of literature and visual art. Jani obtained her LLB and a BA (Hons) in English Literature from Monash University, and a LLM by research from UWA which focused on the potential registration of non-traditional trade marks. Before joining UWA in 1999, she worked as a solicitor for Freehill, Hollingdale and Page, and a Legal Research Officer for a Member of the WA Legislative Assembly. Since joining UWA, Jani has from time to time worked part-time as a solicitor and as a consultant to specialist intellectual property law firms. She has published internationally in numerous peer-reviewed journals and edited collections and presented her work at conferences and workshops in many countries, a number of which she has convened or co-convened. She has been a visiting scholar at Berkeley Law school.
Presentations
Session 1 — University Makerspaces (10:00 am — 11:20 am)
Professor Rowena Barrett, ‘Drivers for Entrepreneurship and Creativity at University’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/A0n2qGff3BI
Stephanie Piper, ‘Regional Academic Makerspaces’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/vbC5PL5per4
Vince Kelly, ‘The Journey of Building a World-Class Educational Makerspace at The University of Queensland’, Remaking the Maker Movement ,QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/RtOxFOC_x_Q
Mia van Zyl, ‘An Ecosystem Approach to Makerspace Sustainability within a Digital Innovation Precinct in Johannesburg, South Africa’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/D-geixTRnHM
Session 2 — Scientific Makerspaces (11:30 am — 12:30 pm)
Dr Sarah Walden, ‘Soft Matter Materials Laboratory’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/oRnDzTEMt-Y
Dr Bruce Baer Arnold, ‘Bioprinting, the Internet of Bodies, Intellectual Property, and Human Rights’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/_J5HniiS04k
Professor Matthew Rimmer, ‘Shane Rattenbury, the Productivity Commission, and the Right to Repair: Intellectual Property and Sustainable Development’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/DUGno_shkkA
Session 3 — Community Makerspaces (1:30 pm — 2:30 pm)
Sabrina Chakori, ‘Tool Libraries: Innovation Hubs for Economic Degrowth’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/hVM9GyG2_xQ
Dr Dhaval Vyas, ‘DIY and Making in Low Socioeconomic Communities’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/mA_is0KDINY
Professor Matthew Rimmer, ‘Open Prosthetics: Intellectual Property, 3D Printing, Medical Innovation, and Disability Rights’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/YlJBi3wWsDU
Session 4 — Makerspaces and the Law (3:00 pm — 4:00 pm)
Dr Muhammed Zaheer Abbas, ‘The Role and Patent Infringement Liability of Fab Labs and Community Makerspaces in COVID-19 Response’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/n7es6c0tN1w
Dr Anne Matthew, ‘Homo Deus: The Promise of Legal Imagination for New Technologies in Innovative Industries’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/uasvOgD4QU4
Brydon Timothy Wang, ‘Automating Cities: Welcome to the Machine Metropolis’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/wJCMEkyeY7Q
Session 5 — International Makerspaces (4:00 pm — 5:00 pm)
Dr Chris Armstrong, ‘Institutionalisation and Informal Innovation in South African Maker Communities’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/7ERu7jupJFE
Professor Lucas Osborn, ‘3D Printing and Intellectual Property’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/gqshqgDUR8Q
Associate Professor Jani McCutcheon, ‘International Perspectives on Disability Exceptions in Copyright Law and the Visual Arts: Feeling Art’, Remaking the Maker Movement, QUT Faculty of Business and Law, 3 February 2021, https://youtu.be/Zl_c-tzMX24
