Maker Festival

This annual event, organised by the ‘Make Your School – Your Ideas Workshop’ educational project run by Wissenschaft im Dialog (WiD), is all about tinkering, coding and doing things yourself. Admission is free and the event is suitable for a range of age groups.

“With Make Your School, we give young people the opportunity to play an active role in shaping their school: they develop creative, technical solutions to specific challenges, thereby strengthening their STEM and digital skills, their ability to work in a team and their sense of self-efficacy. The Maker Festival showcases what can be achieved through this process,” says project manager Anne Weißschädel from Wissenschaft im Dialog.

The highlight of the Maker Festival is the prototypes developed by pupils themselves during ‘hack days’ held at schools. Teams from across Germany will present solutions to everyday school problems, including a smart awning that provides shade in the school playground and a robot that transports materials through the school building via an app. Visitors can discuss the pupils’ ideas with them and vote for the People’s Choice Award. To round off the day, a panel of experts will also present the Make-Your-School Awards in the ‘Innovation’ and ‘Design’ categories, as well as the People’s Choice Award.

Visitors can look forward to numerous DIY workshops: tinkerers can, for example, programme a retro video game, solder wire art pieces or explore the BHT’s GLASBOX makerspace. For younger visitors, there are various hands-on stations where they can build a marble run or musical instruments. A live DJ set will provide the musical backdrop to the festival. Advance registration is recommended for some workshops.

Another highlight is the keynote speech by Artemis aerospace engineer Annemarie Lohse. She will offer insights into space exploration and explain why failure is not a sign of weakness, but often the first step towards genuine innovation.

President Dr Julia Neuhaus of the Berlin University of Applied Sciences (BHT), which is a partner of the Maker Festival for the first time this year, explains: “As a vibrant teaching, learning and research community, the BHT develops practical solutions for the city of the future. This philosophy connects us with the Maker Festival: here, young people demonstrate how concrete solutions to challenges in their own communities can be created. We are delighted to welcome the festival to the BHT for the first time.”

‘Make Your School’ is a project run by Wissenschaft im Dialog. The Klaus Tschira Foundation is the national sponsor of the project. The TÜV SÜD Foundation is the regional sponsor for the eastern German federal states.

Venue: Berlin University of Applied Sciences, Luxemburger Straße 10, 13353 Berlin

Date: Saturday, 19 September 2026, 12 noon to 6 pm

Further information, programme and registration: HERE