The Verbund Offener Werkstätten (VOW) is a networking and lobbying association for the whole range of the non-commercial selfmade culture.

VOW helps people to start and carry on concrete places for individual work and collective self-empowerment as well as to make DIY activities visible  – including all kinds of community driven workshops, ranging from traditional crafts production to the idea of shared high tech workshops like fablabs and hackerspaces.

It also wants to call the social value of common-pool infrastructure into the public’s mind. The 2009 initiated network has grown nationwide to about 60 initiatives and is to connect right now with European partners.