A Global Platform for Digital Invention, Education and Entrepreneurship
Can small manufacturing labs, with the tools and computing power to make almost anything, infuse
new ideas and possibilities into global solution networks and give a boost to local entrepreneurship and job creation? That’s exactly what a network of “Fab Labs” is aspiring to do by providing access to powerful manufacturing tools— including laser cutters, milling machines and 3-D printers—to an increasingly broad range of users at educational institutions and local community centers around the world. Incubated at the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, the Fab Lab Network now consists of 270 independent manufacturing centers in 70 countries around the world.
Fab Labs is a growing global network of over 200 small manufacturing workshops, bringing together computing power and relatively simple tools to make nearly anything. Individual Fab Labs are open to a wider array of users than has traditionally been the case in industrial design or even DIY communities, allowing for a mix of entrepreneurial, research and educational activities. By sharing a core set of capabilities, projects started in one Fab Lab can be continued and modified in others.