Each of our activities has its own page: workshops, bootcamps, openings, visits, festivals and relief operations, in the order they happened. We add new pages over time.
The pages about the organisation describe how our work is meant to fit together. These pages show what actually happened. Some are short: a date, a place and a photograph.
Highlights
A few moments from each year since our founding in 2018. The full list has every activity in date order, with search and filters.
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Makerspace at the Batticaloa Public Library Co-created with the Municipal Council; the new library opened on 20 May 2026 with the President of Sri Lanka attending. Batticaloa
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Maker Exhibition and Certificate Ceremony Robotics makers showed their prototypes, collected certificates, and signed up for the next level the same day. Batticaloa
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Cyclone Ditwah flood relief Emergency relief across the East and North with local partners, after cyclone flooding displaced families in five districts. Eastern and Northern Provinces
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Pitch day: one year of growth, grit and guts Seven young entrepreneurs pitched what they had built after a year in the campus. Batticaloa
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DreamSpace Hatton opens A DreamSpace hub in the hill country, the first new site within Sri Lanka since Mullaitivu. Hatton
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Navigate: public opening A digital community technology hub opened, four months after it started teaching. Mullaitivu
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MakerSpace Batticaloa launches The first dedicated makerspace in the district opened under its own name. Batticaloa
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American iHub opens The fifth American Space in Sri Lanka, opened by the United States Ambassador and operated by us. Batticaloa
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Visual Content Makers graduate, and Dive EAST launches The first cohort received awards, and an Eastern Province tourism platform launched the same evening. Batticaloa
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Third Lifecycle cohort closes We launched and celebrated the third Lifecycle cohort's grassroots innovations, two years after the call went out. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, a month-long conference in Batticaloa We hosted the third Digital Naturalism Conference for the whole of July, with fifty-plus international participants. Batticaloa
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Intercultural Innovation Award, Smart Advocates The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the BMW Group recognised the social-cohesion initiative. International
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PLOCAN Glider School, first Asian accepted A maker from our workshop floor became the first Asian accepted onto an ocean-glider programme in the Canary Islands. Canary Islands, Spain
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ExoLab-8, an experiment on the International Space Station Young people at our centre joined a space experiment on how clover roots and bacteria work together, launched on Cygnus NG-15. Batticaloa and the International Space Station
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Peace Direct Award, winner We won an award for technology-led peacebuilding in war-affected Sri Lanka, presented at PeaceCon. International
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iGEM 2020, gold medal for a rice biosensor A joint team won gold at the international synthetic-biology competition for a biosensor for a fungus that destroys 40 per cent of stored rice. International
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Falling Walls Engage, Science Engagement of the Year We won the 2019 international science-engagement award in Berlin, in our second year. Berlin, Germany
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Open Door A reopening with BOOKBRIDGE, attended by the heads of two other learning centres. Batticaloa
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Community Innovation Centre launch We opened our first centre for hands-on learning on 16 April 2019, with a public panel on the education system. Batticaloa
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DreamSpace Academy founded DreamSpace Academy started in Batticaloa on 30 September 2018, growing out of a youth consortium that had already run for five years. Batticaloa
All activities
Back to highlights How to read the numbers on these pages
Where a page gives a number of participants, it is the number of people in the room on that one day. Each number is for one session, so the numbers are never added up into a total.
A repeated title means the same workshop or course run again for a different group. Attendance at large public events is kept apart from workshop attendance.
No activity matches those filters. The work has been uneven across years and places, so some combinations are empty.
2026 ( 11 activities )
With the municipality, we opened a makerspace inside the public library, in a building the municipality owns. The new library opened in May 2026 with the President attending.
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ACTED visits again ACTED came back in July 2026 and toured the labs and the grounds. Batticaloa
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Canadian High Commissioner visits The High Commissioner of Canada toured our labs and met our team. Batticaloa
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3D printing workshop with the American Corner A two-day 3D printing workshop with the American Corner in Batticaloa, ending with certificates. Batticaloa
- Twelve robotics projects shown The closing showcase of the school robotics programme funded by a micro-grant. Batticaloa
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Uki: second full-stack cohort The six-month full-stack programme opened again, fully sponsored and taught in Tamil. Batticaloa
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Blockchain workshop What blockchain is, in plain terms, and how a local skill can become a paid digital service. Batticaloa
- Colomboscope We worked with the contemporary-arts festival where the climate sound project was presented. Colombo, Sri Lanka
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In-school programme reaches Nuwara Eliya and Kantale Empowerment Inside School extends into the plantation estates of the central hills and into Trincomalee district. Nuwara Eliya and Kantale
- Makerspace at Hantale Another site in the hill country, after Hatton. Hantale
- Knorr-Bremse visits A German corporate foundation that funds education and water projects in Sri Lanka visited. Batticaloa
2025 ( 45 activities )
We opened a hub at Hatton in the hill country, a cohort returned after twelve months to pitch what they had built, and the year ended with flood relief in five districts.
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School supplies for Al Madeena Primary School, Polonnaruwa After the Cyclone Ditwah floods, every one of the school's 427 students received a full set of learning materials. Deewaragama, Thambala, Polonnaruwa
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Music workshop A music workshop in mid-December, in a year that also ran a three-month music bootcamp and a music hackathon. Batticaloa
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RC aircraft workshop Participants assembled a radio-controlled aircraft, then flew it. Batticaloa
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VisAct Media at Splice Beta A third consecutive year at the media-startup festival, and a top-nine finalist place on the climate pitch stage. Chiang Mai, Thailand
- Micro-grant disbursed for school robotics A micro-grant from the Sabrina Yusoof Foundation, for a robotics and science programme at a Batticaloa school. Batticaloa
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Aruppë workshops The youngest group of the year, and a robotics awareness session at Aruppë College in December. Batticaloa
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Kathira Greens Venture activity for Kathira Greens. Batticaloa
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Magiladithevu school workshop A school workshop at Magiladithevu on 2 November 2025. Magiladithevu
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Make and Play A recurring hands-on format for young children, sometimes with their parents, sometimes with their teachers. Batticaloa
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Certificate ceremony A group of learners received certificates on 9 October 2025. Batticaloa
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Children's Day, Hatton The new hill-country centre's first celebration, eight days after it opened. Hatton
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Disrupt Asia 2025 We had a stall as an ecosystem partner at Sri Lanka's big startup and technology gathering. TRACE Expert City, Colombo
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3D design and printing workshop, Hatton A 3D design and printing workshop in the hill country, days before the Hatton centre opened. Hatton
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Art workshop An art workshop at our centre on 8 September 2025. Batticaloa
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Maker Kit workshop More than thirty children assembling kits, solving puzzles and building their first robots. Batticaloa
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The Routes We Take Two days of creative workshops, talks and performances with ten Eastern Province creatives, on art, sustainability and circularity. Batticaloa
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Line following car workshop A one-day robotics workshop where children built and programmed their own line-following cars. Batticaloa
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Navigate Digital bootcamp A three-month certificate course in digital tools, professional communication, online safety and freelancing. Mullaitivu
- School project work Students worked on school projects with us in early August 2025. Batticaloa
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Entrepreneurship training for women Making a product, the basics of marketing, and taking it to market, for women starting businesses. Batticaloa
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Project Roots in Batticaloa Two weeks with Project Roots, which brings young people from the Sri Lankan diaspora back to Sri Lanka. Batticaloa
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Uki full-stack development programme A six-month full-stack course in the Eastern Province for school leavers with no route into technology. Batticaloa
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Build a Robot workshops Children built robots in teams in two July sessions, with a one-day follow-up in August. Batticaloa
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VisAct journalism training VisAct Media ran journalism training on 13 June 2025. Batticaloa
- DreamSpace Records at Dinacon Ocean data turned into sound, and instruments built from scavenged plastic, at the fourth Digital Naturalism Conference. Bali, Indonesia
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AI with Electronics workshops Participants trained an artificial-intelligence model, then wired it into an electronics project. Batticaloa
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World University Service of Canada visits The World University Service of Canada visited on 5 May 2025. Batticaloa
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UN Resident Coordinator visits Marc-André Franche, UN Resident Coordinator in Sri Lanka, toured the ventures and the workshop floor. Batticaloa
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Open Day 2025 More than thirty visitors toured the labs for demonstrations, hands-on sessions and conversations with the team. Batticaloa
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UNICEF Chief of Education visits Erin Tanner, Chief of Education at UNICEF Sri Lanka, spent a day with us. Batticaloa
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International Media Support visits Three visits in March to review our media unit's growth, challenges and roadmap. Batticaloa
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Videography and video-editing bootcamp A three-month bootcamp hosted by DreamSpace Productions, an independent company formed from the media lab. Batticaloa
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CERI digital storytelling final event The closing event of the CERI digital-storytelling work, on 1 February 2025. Batticaloa
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DreamShot MakerFaire and AI Hackathon Four days of hackathons, exhibitions, masterclasses, music and Koothu, our largest single event of the year. Batticaloa
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Dreams of Women leadership workshop A two-day leadership workshop run by Dreams of Women, on leadership styles and identity. Batticaloa
- Youth Entrepreneurship Campus, second run The second run of the campus that launched in August 2024. Batticaloa
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Kuluvinanmadu school opening A school opening at Kuluvinanmadu, in a community our media team had worked in the previous October. Kuluvinanmadu
- Connections through Culture: Weather Reports A British Council grant for a trilingual climate sound and performance work with ten Sri Lankan and UK artists. Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom
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ChanceMaker Foundation Circle, Stuttgart Co-founder Aravinth Panch in conversation before fifty potential supporters in Stuttgart. Stuttgart, Germany
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Ecoversities Global Gathering Two team members joined a hundred participants working on community-rooted alternatives to mainstream education. Chonburi, Thailand
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Empowerment Inside School reaches two districts The in-school programme runs in Batticaloa and Hatton, with government approval and teacher training behind it. Batticaloa and Hatton
2024 ( 70 activities )
The makerspace got its own name and its own building, the Navigate hub opened, and senior donor and diplomatic visitors came in a steady run.
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CERI visits CERI visited ahead of the digital-storytelling final event in February. Batticaloa
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AI training We closed the year with artificial-intelligence training. Batticaloa
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UNICEF visits The UNICEF team toured the labs, three months before the Chief of Education. Batticaloa
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Media literacy workshops Two consecutive days in December. Batticaloa
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USAID delegation visits The Agreement Officer and the Deputy Director for Economic Growth came to see the SCORE work. Batticaloa
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ACTED visits The ACTED team toured the labs and the ventures. Batticaloa
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Global Entrepreneurship Week We hosted the Batticaloa event of Global Entrepreneurship Week with Dreams of Women. Batticaloa
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Cybersecurity for peacebuilding trainers A session for Search for Common Ground's own trainer programme. Batticaloa
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ChildFund Sri Lanka visits Three visits across late 2024. Batticaloa
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Build Peace, eleventh annual conference Two of the team at the first Asian edition of the technology-and-peacebuilding conference. Philippines
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Blood donation camp A blood drive for the teaching hospital, with stem-cell awareness alongside. Batticaloa
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Splice Beta, second year VisAct Media returned to the media-startup festival in Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai, Thailand
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UN Peace and Development Adviser visits Patrick Mc Carthy toured the labs and the ventures. Batticaloa
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Canadian High Commission development head visits Linda Ehrichs and her team toured the labs and the ventures. Batticaloa
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DiGiZEN, digital storytelling A session on digital storytelling as a communication tool, for a partner's programme. Batticaloa
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GIZ hands over 3D printers GIZ gave our makerspace 3D printers, and we trained potters in 3D printer assembly. Batticaloa
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Digital Story Creation Competition More than thirty-five learners entered a competition about family-based care, told through digital storytelling. Batticaloa
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VisAct at Kuluvinanmadu Field work in the village of Kuluvinanmadu. Kuluvinanmadu
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Cyber equity workshop with Search for Common Ground A workshop on cyber equity with Search for Common Ground, with group work, presentations and a card activity. Batticaloa
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Mushroom farming with Dreams of Women A hands-on livelihood workshop for women running households and small businesses. Batticaloa
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Co-working agreement with TRACE The national technology campus took co-working space in Batticaloa. Batticaloa
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Six years We marked our sixth anniversary with employee recognition at the centre. Batticaloa
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Navigate: videography and digital advocacy A videography bootcamp and a digital advocacy session, the day before the centre's public opening. Mullaitivu
- Photography workshop, Nuwara Eliya A workshop in the tea-estate hill country, before the in-school programme arrived there. Nuwara Eliya
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New building at Eastern University Our physical presence at the university grows. Vantharumoolai, Batticaloa
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Digital literacy bootcamp, Mullaitivu Twenty young people, three days, on digital literacy, internet safety and cybersecurity. Mullaitivu
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VisAct workshop and programme A workshop and further programme work from the media unit, in August and September. Batticaloa
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High Commissioner of Canada returns Eric Walsh came back to see the new makerspace and meet the grassroots innovators. Batticaloa
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Digital Security School: training the trainers Trainers learned cybersecurity, digital risk assessment and safe practice, for Sri Lankan media professionals. Batticaloa
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Youth Entrepreneurship Campus begins A five-day intensive course. Batticaloa and Norochcholai
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Founds and Good News visit A visit in August 2024. Batticaloa
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Two visits from Rajan Bala Aligambai in August, then us in November. Aligambai and Batticaloa
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Navigate: handover USAID formally handed over the facility, two months before its public opening. Mullaitivu
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GIZ visits GIZ visited three months before the 3D printer handover in October. Batticaloa
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Work with Search for Common Ground Technical sessions inside a peacebuilding organisation's programme, followed by work on cyber equity and cybersecurity. Batticaloa
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Certificates at Navalady school Certificates issued under a Dreams of Women programme. Navalady, Batticaloa
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Leadership and skills training in Jaffna We ran training in the Northern Province capital. Jaffna
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Visit to the production house A visit to the MakerSpace production house. Batticaloa
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Training for sculptors in the Eastern Province English, entrepreneurship and 3D printing for sculptors and pottery workers in Porathivu, funded through GIZ. Porathivu, Batticaloa
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Travelling History Museum An eight-day exhibition in Batticaloa on Sri Lanka's recent history. Batticaloa
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Digital marketing training with the YMCA We ran contract training for the YMCA. Batticaloa
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ARAM UK visits A visit in June 2024. Batticaloa
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Digital marketing training with MJF We ran digital marketing training for a partner organisation. Batticaloa
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Electronics workshop for Peradeniya engineering students Engineering undergraduates from the Eastern Province came home for hands-on lab work their course does not include. Batticaloa
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USAID Deputy Director visits Michael Haines, of the Office of Governance and Vulnerable Populations, saw the SCORE work first-hand. Batticaloa
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Learn to Discern, 2024 series Seven more media-literacy workshops, in Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa. Jaffna, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa
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Navigate: first workshops Robotics and videography, four months before the centre had a public opening. Mullaitivu
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English workshops in Porathivu Three sessions in a rural division across the summer. Periya Porathivu, Batticaloa
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Naga Pasumai product shoot Product photography for the agriculture venture's packaged products. Batticaloa
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Movie Club at the American iHub A recurring public programme inside the innovation hub, five months after it opened. Batticaloa
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The O Group opens A joint venture co-founded by DreamSpace (Pvt) Ltd opens. Batticaloa
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International Media Support visits A visit from a media partner we have worked with since 2023. Batticaloa
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IREX visits The partner behind the media-literacy curriculum and the Digital Security School. Batticaloa
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Software workshop A software workshop, alongside a 3D printing session earlier that month. Batticaloa
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Visits to Kattumurivu and Veedha Two community and school visits on the same day. Batticaloa district
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Lemonaid and ChariTea Foundation visits A visit in February 2024. Batticaloa
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Dham Dham Riddim A ten-day music-production bootcamp, ending in a release on the label’s own Bandcamp. Batticaloa
- English workshop series Five workshops across the spring, in Batticaloa and out in the region. Batticaloa and the region
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Art and entrepreneurship An artist taught other artists how to make a living from their work. Batticaloa
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Global Communities visits The organisation running the USAID SCORE Activity. Batticaloa
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Web development bootcamp A web-development bootcamp in the Software Lab. Batticaloa
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Leadership workshops in the North Mullaitivu and Jaffna, and then leadership training for trainee teachers at a national college. Mullaitivu and Jaffna
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Zonal Education Department visit A visit with the education office whose approval the school programmes depend on. Batticaloa
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Workshops in Mullaitivu and Batticaloa Three days across two districts in early February. Mullaitivu and Batticaloa
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Advanced videography with Red Lotus Films A three-day advanced videography and video-editing workshop for people already working in the field. Batticaloa
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Videography and video editing A one-day workshop for content creators: lighting, camera settings, angles, editing. Batticaloa
- Dreams on Wheels A mobile workshop that takes hands-on making to schools that cannot come to the building. Batticaloa district
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Five-day skills workshop for the team Public speaking, communication, leadership, teamwork and problem-solving for the people who deliver the programmes. Batticaloa
2023 ( 63 activities )
We moved from teaching children to training the people who train the teachers, and the United States Ambassador inaugurated an American innovation hub at our academy.
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Photography workshop, Kacheri A photography workshop closing the year. Batticaloa
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FungiScope bootcamp Bio-lab work with a microscope built for fungi, continuing our research on mycelium. Batticaloa
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VisAct stakeholder meeting A stakeholder dialogue around the media unit. Batticaloa
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Build Peace, Kenya At the peacebuilding-and-technology gathering, a year before the Philippines edition. Kenya
- COP28 A changemaker from our pathway represented Sri Lanka at the climate conference in Dubai. Dubai, United Arab Emirates
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Mellidaimettu community session A community session outside the town. Mellidaimettu, Batticaloa
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Search for Common Ground visits A visit from a peacebuilding partner already three years into the relationship. Batticaloa
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VisAct in action Work under VisAct, our programme on using photos and video for social change. Batticaloa
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Splice Beta, first year Our media unit joined an Asian media-startup festival for the first time. Chiang Mai, Thailand
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Mahilavedduvaan school visit A school visit in November 2023. Batticaloa
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Knodel Foundation visits A visit, an interview, and a workshop at a school the following week. Batticaloa
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Innovation competition We held it days after the Jaffna festival. Batticaloa
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YGC Innovation Festival Showing the work at the Jaffna Cultural Centre, to a crowd of more than a thousand. Jaffna
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Nurainiya school visit A school visit in October 2023. Batticaloa
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Media workshop for deaf and non-speaking participants Camera operation, photography and design, taught by a staff photographer who is himself deaf. Batticaloa
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Yaazh Gaanam, opening a concert in Jaffna Our music team performed to a crowd reported at more than 80,000 beside Jaffna Fort. Jaffna
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Two days in Jaffna with the Community Resource Centre A content-creation workshop with well-known creators, including RJ Vigneshkanth. Jaffna
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Changemaker discovery session The first stage of the changemaker pathway, where new people are recruited, run again. Batticaloa
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Mobile journalism workshop, Nuwara Eliya Grow Education students in Nuwara Eliya learned to make documentary videos on a phone. Nuwara Eliya
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DreamSpace farm By October 2023 the DreamSpace farm was running. Batticaloa
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Five years We marked our fifth anniversary with a maker exhibition and a market. Batticaloa
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Street Child school visit A visit in September 2023. Batticaloa
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Robotics workshop series Four robotics workshops across the second half of the year. Batticaloa
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United States Embassy recruitment session The Embassy held it at our academy two months before the American innovation hub opened. Batticaloa
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Laser engraver workshop Laser cutting and engraving, 2D design, and design-to-manufacture software, with a mini project each. Batticaloa
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Kalkudah zone, teacher training Zonal training on keeping a school innovation lab running after the training ends. Kalkudah, Batticaloa
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Deputy High Commissioner of Canada visits Daniel Bood and the Counsellor for Political and Trade Affairs looked at economic-development ventures. Batticaloa
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Electronics, media and software labs By September 2023 the electronics, media and software labs were finished and equipped. Batticaloa
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Training-of-trainers series Four more days training the education zones' own trainers, across the autumn. Batticaloa
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Meet and greet, Navz-47 Tamil-Canadian artist Navz-47 met the musicians of Batticaloa at our academy. Batticaloa
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Cyber security, training the trainers We trained a women's network to teach digital security in their own communities. Batticaloa
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Kids' robotics, building automated railways Twenty-seven young makers, aged six to fourteen, building automated railway systems. Batticaloa
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Documentary filming in Muthur Our media team filmed farmers in Muthur for a documentary. Muthur, Trincomalee
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Drones at Chenkalady Central College An introduction to how drones fly, for eleven-year-olds, with an international volunteer. Chenkalady, Batticaloa
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UNDP Sri Lanka visits A visit in July 2023. Batticaloa
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Green technology workshop A one-day workshop on sustainable innovation, built around hands-on experiments. Batticaloa
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AI Camp Three days of teaching computers to recognise images, body positions and sounds, aimed at problems in nature. Batticaloa
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Language learning session German and English language teaching. Batticaloa
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Visual Content Maker, second cohort Fifteen people began a five-day residential training led by media professionals. Batticaloa
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Changemakers pitch Two pitch days ahead of the cohort's closing ceremony in July. Batticaloa
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USAID SCORE team visits The USAID SCORE Activity team visited us. Batticaloa
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Kattankudy school workshop A school workshop in Kattankudy. Kattankudy, Batticaloa
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BOOKBRIDGE cohort visits BOOKBRIDGE's twentieth programme cohort visited us. Batticaloa
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Canadian diaspora delegation visits A Canadian diaspora team visited us in May 2023. Batticaloa
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Kiran Central College, a science quiz and a workshop A workshop for teachers, parents and learners at a provincial science competition. Kiran, Batticaloa
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Multicultural event We returned the invitation a fortnight after the interfaith Ifthar. Batticaloa
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High Commissioner of Canada visits Eric Walsh toured our labs, the first of two visits. Batticaloa
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Living Architecture Two workshops on growing buildings from trees, with the root bridges of Meghalaya as the precedent. Batticaloa
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Interfaith Ifthar The Bismi Institute invited us to a Ramadan gathering and dialogue at a mosque in Kattankudy. Kattankudy, Batticaloa
- Wireless AC power tester A learner found a fault in a tester and built a better one. Batticaloa
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Music production bootcamp Three months from music theory to mixing and mastering, open to people with no experience. Batticaloa
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Teaching Technology and Design, with SteamHead Teachers, education zone directors and our own trainers learned student-centred teaching protocols, co-taught with SteamHead. Batticaloa
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Learn to Discern, media literacy across six districts Eight workshops in six districts on spotting misinformation. Hatton, Batticaloa, Ampara, Nuwara Eliya, Mullaitivu and Trincomalee
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SteamHead workshop for students A workshop for students with SteamHead, the partner that worked with us on teacher training that April. Batticaloa
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Digital drawing workshop We taught digital drawing basics, character design and the tools to people new to the field. Batticaloa
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Women's Day open day, She PRIDE of the Nation We ran the Dreams of Women zone at a mass public event, and the Provincial Governor visited it. Trincomalee
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Vocational Training Authority, Vantharumoolai We work with the state vocational-training authority. Vantharumoolai, Batticaloa
- University of Peradeniya, engineering workshop We ran hands-on sessions for engineering undergraduates, including integrated circuits and microcontrollers. Batticaloa
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Media Lab By January 2023 the Media Lab was running, and by September it was complete. Batticaloa
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SLTC partnership meeting We met SLTC Research University; a sponsored research lab agreement followed in May. Batticaloa
2022 ( 23 activities )
An international field-biology conference ran in the building for a month and left a floating science centre on the lagoon.
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Changemaker discovery workshops Workshops for shortlisted applicants in two districts, the first step into the twelve-month programme. Batticaloa and Ampara
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Electromechanics at Cheddipalayam Maha Vidyalayam A workshop at a well-resourced school twenty kilometres from Batticaloa that needed people to teach the subject. Cheddipalayam, Batticaloa
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One Young World, Manchester Both our co-founders represented Sri Lanka at the One Young World summit in Manchester. Manchester, United Kingdom
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The actor Nassar visits A dialogue with artists in Batticaloa, with us as visual partner. Batticaloa
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Dreamboat, a floating makerspace built during Dinacon A floating makerspace on the Batticaloa lagoon, built for us during Dinacon 2022. Batticaloa Lagoon
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Dinacon, smart farming with LoRaWAN at DreamSpace Hive Solar-powered sensors on a luffa farm sent their readings through a LoRaWAN gateway at DreamSpace Hive, built during Dinacon 2022. DreamSpace Hive, Batticaloa
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Dinacon, Thaalam Riddim Reapers Three days of digital music production, blending music with the natural environment. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, game development in Unity A two-day workshop building 3D scenes and game logic, run with the Software Lab. DreamSpace Hive, Batticaloa
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SLASSCOM Ingenuity, Emerging Women Technopreneur Trash for Trade won for the Northern Province, and placed second in the sustainable-development category. Sri Lanka
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Dinacon, the Fighouse A bamboo structure testing banyan and fig as a building material, with a sensor pod that turned leaves into sound. Batticaloa
- Dinacon, biomaterials from mycelium Growing materials from fungi in the Bio Lab. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, the Wild Lives classes Classes on finding and telling the stories of the wild animals that live around DreamSpace, for adults and for children. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, a hydraulic press for upcycling plastics Our team and Trash for Trade built a hydraulic press during Dinacon 2022 and turned plastic waste into new sheets and objects. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, the DreamSpace mural A mural along the entry staircase telling the story of the DreamSpace Lifecycle, made together during Dinacon 2022. Batticaloa
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Dinacon, the mushroom-mushroom lamp A lamp shaped like a mushroom and grown from mycelium in the DreamSpace Bio Lab during Dinacon 2022, part of the DreamFungi project. DreamSpace Bio Lab, Batticaloa
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Dinacon, trash to paper Papermaking and bookbinding workshops during Dinacon 2022 that turned local waste into new paper and handmade journals. Batticaloa
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SheTechpreneur bootcamp A three-month bootcamp for women in technology and enterprise, supported by the Lenovo Foundation. Batticaloa
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Dinacon scouting visit The director of Digital Naturalism Labs scouted Batticaloa as the site for the next conference. Batticaloa
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The founders of Lanka Upcycles visit The co-founders of an upcycling business toured our facilities. Batticaloa
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The Digital Nomad Ambassador visits Matthew de Caussin met startup founders from the East and toured the research, development and electromechanics floor. Batticaloa
- Microbiology and mycology workshop A one-day workshop on growing fungi, aimed at building a community around biotechnology at our academy. Batticaloa
- Lenovo TransforMe Award An international award for digital empowerment. International
2021 ( 42 activities )
The building was shut for most of the year, and few workshops ran. The work that did happen reached the International Space Station and a glider school in the Canary Islands.
- Recognised at PeaceCon Recognition at the Alliance for Peacebuilding’s annual conference, a year after the award. International
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Science Hackday and an equipment handover A hack day held alongside a donation of equipment for the workshop floor. Batticaloa
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Welcoming Ara to the academy In December 2021 our team welcomed Ara and showed our labs and workshops. Batticaloa
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Jathujan Mahendran on the UNICEF panel Jathujan Mahendran, a Lifecycle candidate, spoke on UNICEF Sri Lanka's panel for its seventy-fifth anniversary. Sri Lanka
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IEEE Innovation Nation, finalist Trash for Trade was one of five finalists from 1,346 startup ideas submitted nationally. Sri Lanka
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Seed grants for eleven social-innovation ideas Eleven community ideas took seed grants at a ceremony with the District Secretary, under a UNDP-funded programme. Batticaloa
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The Ambassadors of Norway and the Netherlands Our representatives met two ambassadors through our peacebuilding work. Batticaloa
- She Loves Tech Sri Lanka, runner-up Abitharani Jeyachandran placed second in the national round of a global competition for women in technology. Sri Lanka
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AsiaBerlin Summit, keynote A keynote at the Berlin Senate's annual summit on under-served communities tackling local challenges. Berlin, Germany
- The DreamShot Startup Challenge launches We launched our own startup competition, with seed funding for the strongest ideas. Sri Lanka
- Marine Diversity Education, a ten-session course Ten sessions and nearly seven hours of teaching on marine biology, all published openly. Online
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Ecosystem partner to 10,000 Ideas We joined the national initiative to build a thousand technology startups, as an incubating partner. Sri Lanka
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Virtual Startup Accelerator bootcamp Thirty founders took part in a three-month accelerator funded by the American Center. Batticaloa and online
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ExoLab-9, the experiment runs again The same space experiment ran again, launched on SpaceX's twenty-third cargo mission. Batticaloa and the International Space Station
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- One Young World, delegate and flagbearer One Young World selected co-founder Aravinth Panch to represent Sri Lanka at its youth leadership summit. International
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Project AISLE, the call-out for a third cohort We opened applications for the third changemaker cohort of the twelve-month programme. Batticaloa
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Trainee cohort farewell The closing event for a trainee cohort, and where some trainees went next. Batticaloa
- Shark's Tank Awards A Shark's Tank award in July 2021. Sri Lanka
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Bio Lab session Bench work in the bio lab, set up as a community lab. Batticaloa
- iREACT, a virtual exhibition against hate speech An online exhibition of posters and poems against hate speech from contributors across the country. Online
- Global Talent Mentoring, talent development in the Global South We are the nominating partner for Sri Lanka on an international mentoring platform. Germany
- MATTER, Berlin Aravinth Panch spoke in Berlin on tackling local problems through challenge-based learning. Berlin, Germany
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The Software Lab By April 2021 the Software Lab was running, teaching software in Tamil and English. Batticaloa
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Most Creative Learning Centre BOOKBRIDGE named us the most creative learning centre in its Sri Lanka network. Sri Lanka
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Photography bootcamp A three-month accredited bootcamp, from handling a camera to working in the field. Batticaloa
- BBC World Service interview The BBC World Service interviewed a maker from our pathway on the legacy of the Duke of Edinburgh. International
- SLASSCOM National Ingenuity, Best Innovative Project Trash for Trade won the university category of the national technology-industry awards. Sri Lanka
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Training centre field visit A field visit with a partner training centre. Batticaloa
- FIRST Tech Challenge, skills of the future A session on skills of the future in the international FIRST Tech Challenge programme, through Lecture Without Borders. Romania
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BOOKBRIDGE staff training We ran staff training with BOOKBRIDGE. Batticaloa
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Women in Tech photography competition We ran a photography competition for women photographers to mark International Women's Day. Batticaloa
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Photography taught from home Learners photographed their own houses, streets and families because they could not come to the building. Batticaloa
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- National Youth Dialogue, a greener planet Speaking on "Greener Youth for a Greener Planet" at the UNDP national youth dialogue. Sri Lanka
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Back in operation after the closure Electronics workshops restarted with a capped number of people in the room. Batticaloa
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The Path, field visit A group from The Path toured the workshop areas and heard how the learning pathway works. Batticaloa
- The underwater glider is named in Parliament A member of Parliament cited a prototype built on our workshop floor in a speech in the Parliament of Sri Lanka. Colombo, Sri Lanka
- Nestlé Idea Hackathon Recognition at the Nestlé Idea Hackathon in 2021. Sri Lanka
- UBL Business Plan Competition Recognition at the UBL Business Plan Competition in 2021. Sri Lanka
- Intercultural Innovation Hub, recipient and fellowship We entered the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations hub, with a fellowship running into 2022. International
2020 ( 26 activities )
Almost nothing could happen in person. The year produced a chatbot in Tamil, open-source respirator work, a gold medal for a rice biosensor, and a peacebuilding award presented to a US congressional audience.
- HackX 2020, first runner-up Trash for Trade placed first runner-up out of thirty teams. Sri Lanka
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- Les Echos, collective intelligence against COVID The French business daily covered the open-science response to the pandemic that we worked through. Paris, France
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- Bertelsmann Stiftung, Change Magazin The German foundation featured us in its changemaker reporting. Gütersloh, Germany
- Climathon Jaffna, runner-up Trash for Trade, the plastics venture, placed second at a 24-hour climate hackathon. Jaffna, Sri Lanka
- Impact Hero, finalist The Earth Company named co-founder Aravinth Panch a finalist in its annual Impact Hero selection. Bali, Indonesia
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Photojournalism training across three districts Two senior journalists taught participants from Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara online. Online, across three districts
- Second anniversary Our team and our makers marked two years of the academy, during the pandemic, in a building that had been shut for months. Batticaloa
- Global Community Bio Summit, MIT Media Lab We gave two sessions at the community-biology summit: biodiversity conservation, and the open-source test kit. Cambridge, Massachusetts
- Industrial Dialogue, Eastern University Co-founder Kishoth Navaretnarajah spoke at the annual research session of the Faculty of Commerce and Management. Eastern University, Sri Lanka
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Visual Content Makers exhibition Trainees exhibited photographs and video of destinations and culture across the East. Batticaloa
- Corona Hunter, XPRIZE rapid testing semi-finalist An open-source rapid test kit reached the semi-finals of a global XPRIZE. International
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HackaDev information and application session Jayanthan Amalanathan, the previous year's seed-grant winner, ran the session for the next round of applicants. Batticaloa
- Generation Unlimited Youth Challenge, top three nationally The underwater glider pitch placed in the national top three. Sri Lanka
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Digital nomadism workshop Two online entrepreneurs from the United States and Ukraine taught participants how to sell their skills on global platforms. Batticaloa
- OPEN COVID19, open-source respirator work Respirator-mask work that built on two international open-hardware platforms and contributed back to them. Batticaloa
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CoronaBot, pandemic answers in Tamil A chatbot answering COVID-19 questions in Tamil: statistics, local medical supplies and self-assessment. Batticaloa
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HackCorona, global online hackathon We took part in the first edition of a global hackathon in the opening weeks of the pandemic. Online
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Innovation Ecosystems Around The World Aravinth Panch gave two talks in one week, and after the one at our centre, makers from Ampara to Vakarai stayed on to discuss their ideas. Batticaloa
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Stockholm Junior Water Prize, awareness session We hosted the national awareness and information session for the water prize. Batticaloa
- Skills for Inclusive Growth exhibition We exhibited in Batticaloa under Skills for Inclusive Growth, the Australian-funded skills programme behind the year's media work. Batticaloa
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Story-mapping training, Griffith Film School A senior academic from Griffith Film School spent three days mapping our own story with our team. Batticaloa
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MakerSpace workshops for schoolchildren One-day science and engineering workshops, run in January and again in February 2020. Batticaloa
- The first two changemakers Trash for Trade and OceanBiome, the first two ventures to come all the way through the DreamSpace Lifecycle. Batticaloa
- Global Community Bio Fellowship The fellowship that our Bio Lab work grew from. International
2019 ( 24 activities )
The first full year: a building, a launch, a village visited weekend after weekend for five months, and an international science-engagement award in Berlin at thirteen months old.
- Chaos Communication Congress, 36C3 We presented on the Global Innovation Gathering track at the hacker congress in Leipzig. Leipzig, Germany
- DOTS, The Impact Summit, Nakuru We gave a talk on sustainable making in Kenya, organised through the Global Innovation Gathering. Nakuru, Kenya
- Merit Award, 8th National Youth Film Festival One of our trainers won a merit award at the national youth film festival in Colombo. Colombo, Sri Lanka
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Entrepreneurship Ideation Caravan, Eastern University We ran a session on networking and collaboration at Eastern University. Eastern University, Sri Lanka
- ReLogia keynote, Sofia Aravinth Panch gave a keynote in Sofia under our tagline, "Co-Creating The Dreams". Sofia, Bulgaria
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Duke of Edinburgh's Award, regional office opens We became host of the award's regional coordinating office for the North and East. Batticaloa
- HackaDev Social Innovation Challenge We sent four projects to the national youth social-innovation challenge, and one maker won a seed grant. Jaffna, Sri Lanka
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Community building through passion A three-day residential workshop on building community around what people already cared about. Batticaloa
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Anthem for Peace and Image of Emotions Music-for-peace and visual-storytelling workshops, funded through the UN Peacebuilding Fund. Batticaloa
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The chess programme Chess coaching for children, opening with the history of the game. Batticaloa
- STEP NUS Sunburst Brain Camp, selected for Sri Lanka A core team member selected as one of Sri Lanka’s representatives to an environmental programme at the National University of Singapore. Singapore
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Instrumental music sessions Certified instrumental music sessions from June 2019, four years before the record label existed. Batticaloa
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Residential weekends at Pullumalai Residential weekend gatherings in a border village, from June to October 2019. Pullumalai, Batticaloa
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The Access Programme Our first ongoing programme: English, computing, hands-on making, life skills and leadership, run in batches. Batticaloa
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Maker Faire Berlin Our first international event, in our eighth month. Berlin, Germany
- Public launch of the academy We opened our programmes to the public. Batticaloa
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Design thinking training of trainers A trainer from the Hasso Plattner Institute in Berlin taught our team design thinking in the first month of operations. Batticaloa
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Training of trainers in hands-on workshops Co-founder Aravinth Panch trained our team in running workshops, four days before the centre opened. Batticaloa
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School workshop at Pullumalai We ran a school workshop at Pullumalai for more than fifty participants, one of our first workshops. Pullumalai, Batticaloa
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The MakerSpace building takes shape Building and fitting out the workshop floor, through March 2019. Batticaloa
- International talks and events in 2019 We presented in four countries in one year and started the network we have drawn on since. Europe and Africa
2018 ( 1 activity )
We founded DreamSpace Academy on 30 September, out of a youth consortium that had already been running for five years.
What is missing from these pages
The list runs from the founding in September 2018 to today and is not complete. A quiet month may simply be a month when we wrote nothing down.
Some pages give only a date and a place, because that is all we know. We leave them short rather than filling them out with guesses, and they are the ones most likely to grow later.
Some years are much fuller than others. 2021 has few workshops but a launch to the International Space Station; 2024 is one of the fullest years. Those years saw a pandemic, an economic crisis and a recovery, and the pages show them as they were.