Since 2010, the “Industry 4.0” concept has gained popularity in Europe for framing a kind of automated, digitized, modular and flexible factory that can meet the needs of an increasingly changeable and challenging production ecosystem. Although the term was initially coined by the German government, the concept has been widely accepted in the rest of the continent and each Member State of the European Union has developed specific national programs aligned with the strategy of industrial digitization that is currently promoted by the European Commission. But this transition to the smart factory faces several challenges that are far from being solved in the short term. At the same time, we can observe that a new manufacturing culture is emerging due to the “maker movement”, thanks to emerging production spaces, such as makerspaces and fab labs, which are creating alternative technological development pathways. This paper explores the emergence of “open manufacturing” and its role in empowering citizenship through technology, trying to anticipate and prevent the digital divides that the Industry 4.0 is likely to produce.