What are FabLabs and why do they matter

To me: the place with 3D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines and much more. It is my favorite geek playground where I can meet with likeminded geeks. But that’s to me. I’m a technical guy with a university level education. But that’s not all what they are about. They are popping up everywhere and are becoming vital for STEAM education.

The official fablab logo

Definition

Fab lab is short for fabrication laboratory. It is a small scale workshop offering digital fabrication. They have tools that are normally only available to bigger companies because they are too expensive. Typical equipment are CNC machines, 3D printers, laser cutter, digital electronics design and programming tools and much more. Professor Neil Gershenfeld at the prestigious MIT came up with the idea. It was a simple idea: provide the environment, skills, advanced materials and technology to make things cheaply and quickly anywhere in the world, and to make this available on a local basis to entrepreneurs, students, artists, small businesses and in fact, anyone who wants to create something new or bespoke. Equipment alone is not enough to speak of a fablab, that would just be a fancy workshop. A fablab is a workshop with a mission.

Mission

FabLabs are created for various reasons. STEAM is mostly an essential keyword. STEAM is the acronym for Science Technology Engineering Art Mathematics. Depending on their location and community but generally the idea is the same. To create a community where makers can come, think, design and make together. Generally opensource is encouraged as a way of sharing and giving back to the community. The main goal is to educate people who want to learn about digital fabrication and offer the necessary facilities.

Kids learning at my local fablab

Education

Education is the point of focus. One way or another a fablab is continuously educating new and existing members. They organize workshops about various topics. Mostly related to the equipment available but not necessarily. Since a lot of fablabs are associated to schools they are intensely used by these schools. They try to prepare our children for their future. There are programs designed especially for children to learn about sciences, fabrication, programming, … They can get started with fun things such as 3D scanning and printing. They can learn about electronics and robotics. The can learn to design stickers. And much much more. Often there are separate programs for adults covering the same aspects but with a different approach.

Economical importance

From time to time and depending on the size of the fablab they also support individuals with starting up a company. They can provide knowledge and infrastructure to help with design, initial prototypes and proof of concept. Fablabs have a very broad network. They need to search for funding themselves and often can help a lot with this aspect as well. But also existing companies can use the services provided by fablabs for the very same reasons. It’s an interesting community that can connect companies in unimagined ways. Often they are looked at as business accelerators.

World map

Never heard about it before and interested to know if there is one nearby. Fablabs.io has a map here https://www.fablabs.io/labs/map to get you started. In my region it is quite accurate.

Proud minnow, eager to grow.