The First Makerspace in Siem Riep

Independent maker, STEM educator and Espressif supporter, Tomoyuki Sakurai, has created the first makerspace in Siem Riep, Cambodia, called “Makers Siem Reap”. Its mission is to provide a place where people with shared interests in electronics and information technology can gather to work on various projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge. Makers Siem Reap is open to Cambodians and expats alike, welcoming different groups of people ranging from beginners and self-taught makers to more advanced learners.

Despite the challenges relating to the global coronavirus pandemic over the last couple of years, Tomoyuki Sakurai has remained resolute in his dedication to STEM education. In fact, he has continued to provide an Elementary Electronics Course to Cambodian students, free of charge. In this series of nine lessons, beginner students learn the basics of electronics, how to simulate and tinker with electronics circuits.

All courses at “Makers Siem Riep” are taught in English and include the necessary textbooks, materials and electronics parts. Participants will receive badges after accomplishing each course. Courses are open to members of “Makers Siem Riep” and non-members alike. More specifically, non-members are welcome to participate, but they cannot use the working spaces, tools, and other equipment after the end of the course.

Tomoyuki Sakurai’s commendable initiative and overall work came to Espressif’s attention in March 2022, when he posted a series of tweets about what he thinks of Espressif. Tomoyuki is particularly fond of ESP32, due to its specifications, the relevant documentation, and particularly ESP-IDF, Espressif’s IoT Development Framework. Also, Tomoyuki seems to appreciate Espressif’s constant communication with the community of makers. He finds especially helpful the fact that our engineers respond to makers’ questions carefully, and request regular feedback on the company’s products and services. Tomoyuki finished his series of Espressif-related tweets by saying: “I respect Espressif and will continue to support it”.

Thanks to the support of developers like Tomoyuki, Espressif has thrived over the years and continues to evolve as a leading AIoT-solution provider. In fact, our primary goal, both as a company and as individuals working in the high-tech industry, is to make Espressif contribute to the world something truly useful. To this end, we strive to make our chips, operating systems, frameworks, solutions, Cloud, business practices, tools, documentation, ideas, etc., increasingly relevant to solving contemporary life’s most pressing problems. This is Espressif’s highest ambition and moral compass.