Inside Maker Faire Rome 2025: Europe’s Festival of Innovation and Creativity

By Billy Linehan

Maker Faire Festival of invention

Maker Faire Rome is a family-friendly festival of invention, creativity and resourcefulness. It brings together creators, tinkerers, artists, scientists, engineers and enthusiasts of all ages to showcase their projects, share ideas, learn from each other and connect.

Each year the fair attracts a wide range of participants from across Europe and beyond. The 2025 edition, held at the Gazometro Ostiense site in Rome, showed how Italy presents technology as something open to everyone rather than the preserve of specialists or companies. It is a public meeting place where ideas, skills and tools are shared.

Curated by Innova Camera

The event is promoted and organised by Innova Camera, the Special Agency of the Rome Chamber of Commerce, with support from the Italian Trade Agency and other public partners. ENI, Italy’s leading energy company, was the Platinum Partner for Maker Faire Rome 2025, showcasing its work in sustainable energy and innovation.

Readers can see my first report on the event, published in Irish Tech News , which gives background on the fair’s scale and purpose. This follow-up looks at what stood out for me in 2025 and why Maker Faire Rome continues to matter.

A city of invention

Rome becomes a city of invention for three days. People attend to show what they have built, not simply what they intend to sell. Exhibitors range from individual hobbyists to full university research groups. Companies such as Digikey and Arduino are there alongside independent makers. Robots, devices made from recycled materials and new teaching tools for electronics and coding are all on display.

The organisers placed a stronger emphasis this year on sustainability, digital manufacturing and human-centred technology.

Makers tackling real problems

Across the halls and marquees, the emphasis was on solving practical problems. Many exhibitors focused on energy, agriculture, health and sustainability rather than consumer gadgets.

The DAFNE project (Digital Agriculture Framework for the Networked Economy), led by the University of Tuscia, focused on combatting the Xylella pathogen that attacks olive trees. It showed how crop-protection research can connect scientific study with practical farming applications.

At the University of Siena, a public health team presented UV-Heroes , a device for disinfecting stethoscopes that addresses a genuine hospital hygiene issue.

Access to digitised heritage

Elsewhere, the Rome-based startup Scan Heritage demonstrated both 2D and 3D digitisation of cultural and archival materials. Their work creates accurate digital copies of documents, artefacts and objects to support preservation, study and public access. The approach has some similarities with Ireland’s Virtual Record Treasury of Ireland, as both protect fragile archives through digital access.

These examples reflected a grounded approach to technology, linking design with real-world needs.

Highlights from the fair

With hundreds of exhibits spread across four gasometers, halls, pavilions and outdoor spaces, Maker Faire Rome covered everything from electronics and robotics to applied research and digital art. I focused on projects where ideas are being put to use, alongside creators working with materials and form.

A lively robot-football tournament drew large crowds. The SPQR team from Sapienza University of Rome played against visiting teams from the Netherlands and Germany, showing how academic research can be turned into fast, reactive machines.

Swiss maker Manuel Imboden presented his Open Source Satellite Kit, an open CubeSat model that helps beginners understand space technology. A former film producer, Imboden turned to electronics and engineering during the pandemic and has since built an online following through his YouTube channel.

Technology with a Human Purpose

Several research projects showed how technology supports social and medical work. The Pet Robots research team from the University of Basilicata developed Pet Robots in Autism Therapy for Children, integrating companion robots into autism therapy. The group is testing ways to measure attention through eye-tracking and to transfer therapy from clinics to homes using affordable Loona robots.

Makers Blending Art and Design

In the creative areas, Iren Fox from Ukraine displayed steampunk-inspired jewellery, while American artist Michael Walsh showed Sculpture in the Digital Age, using VR sculpting, CAD and 3D printing to explore how digital tools are reshaping contemporary sculpture. Architect Nir Swan presented Sculpting Architecture, demonstrating how digital fabrication can produce flowing forms that merge art and construction.

Wooden pinball machines?

One of the most remarkable builds at the fair was Flipper Il Volo del Drago by Italian craftsman Massimiliano Aiazzi. His creation is an eight-metre-wide wooden pinball machine made from around ten thousand individual pieces, assembled with bolts, screws, bands and counterweights. It is an evolution of his earlier design, now scaled up for seven simultaneous players. Inspired by Leonardo da Vinci’s mechanical inventions, Aiazzi combines creativity and engineering by using only levers, pulleys and counterweights – a striking reminder of how mechanical ingenuity still captures attention in an event full of electronics and code.

Amid the technology, Aiazzi’s work and others like it showed that invention can remain tactile and human-scaled.

Connections

Conversations at the fair showed how ideas move easily across borders. I spoke with Franz Zeller of ORF Radio Austria, who interviewed me about the Manna Drone Delivery service and its development in Dublin. It was a reminder that innovation is not a one-way flow from large economies outward; Ireland contributes to Europe’s technology story as much as it learns from it.

Spending time with the Make: Magazine team from the United States and the wider international delegation reinforced that sense of shared purpose. Walking together through the post-industrial landscape of Ostiense Gasometro, where the fair takes place, we saw how an old gasworks has been reimagined as a working space for creativity and public engagement.

Why it matters

Innovation across Europe often happens quietly. It is not always about venture capital or unicorns. Maker Faire Rome showed that progress can come from community workshops, university labs and classrooms.

If Ireland wants inventive and adaptable small businesses, it needs more spaces where people can learn, experiment and share.

Final thoughts

As a first-time visitor to Maker Faire Rome, I came away impressed by the mix of creativity and purpose. It was not a glossy showcase. It was a reminder that making things with your hands and imagination still matters.

The world could do with more of this spirit.

Sources and links

Official site: Maker Faire Rome – The European Edition
Exhibitor directory: makerfairerome.eu/en/exhibitors

And Billy Linehan

I write for Irish Tech News on innovation, tech-for-good and entrepreneurship, covering events in Ireland and abroad. Alongside journalism, I’m a business mentor and consultant at Celtar Advisers and have advised hundreds of owners of SMEs and startups. I also co-founded and organise StartUp Ballymun, Dublin’s longest-running  entrepreneurship series.

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