A large donation was recently awarded to the "Norway Makers" organization to establishing up to 10 MakerSpaces in Norway. The Norwegian foundation DNB Savings Bank Foundation donated more than 375,000 euros towards the project. The MakerSpaces will be established in science centers around the country in the next two years.

Roger Antonsen and Jon Haavie at Norway Makers are convinced that the funding will spark the maker movement in Norway. "This funding gives us the opportunity to build a national network of public MakerSpaces and inspire new generations. Our mission is to make more makers", Haavie said. "The makerspaces will have open activities and educational programs where kids can get their hands dirty and get inspired by art, technology, and science. By doing this in a science center network, we can have a great impact", Antonsen declared.

Norwegian science centers receive about 1 million visitors each year of which 200,000 are students. "Our aim is also that makers and MakerSpaces use science centers as places where they show people their projects, inspire makers, as well as recruit members for their organisations", Haavie said. "We are proud to support their work and hope it will inspire many new inventors", Birthe Mørreaunet Selvaag from DNB Savings Bank Foundation stated.

Antonsen and Haavie have previously produced Maker Faire Oslo and the first MakerCon in Europe. The idea came after a discussion with Dale Dougherty, founder of Maker Media/Maker Faire, at Maker Faire Oslo in January 2014. "We had a discussion on how we could make the spirit of Maker Faire live on the other 363 days of the year. Dale suggested that a natural next step could be to create a MakerSpace", Haavie explained. "We created the non-profit organization "Norway Makers" in order to strengthen the maker movement in Norway, we got the approval from the science centers and wrote the application. Maybe this could be an inspiration for other to create similar networks", Antonsen hoped.