FabLab Brno & FABWorld
FabLab Brno during last year.
Prepared for FABxlive 2020.
FabLab Brno during last year.
Prepared for FABxlive 2020.
Imagine the world where everyone can create almost anything. Anything that come up into your mind is easily transformed into physical objects. Young and old, men and women, everyone can unleash their creativity, solve day to day problems or one or two of the global challenges.
This is the place that we are building in Brno. We are doing it by bringing digital fabrication tools and digital fabrication education closer to the people.
It started back in 2017 with the first and for a long time the only FabLab in the Czech Republic. FabLab was founded by and also in the building of regional innovation centre JIC and also close to the campus of the Brno University of Technology.
FabLab Brno is a digital fabrication laboratory – set up to inspire people and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into new products and prototypes by giving them access to a range of advanced digital manufacturing technology.
The idea was conceived by renowned inventor and scientist Professor Neil Gershenfeld at the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His idea was a simple one: to 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.
FabLab Brno is a meeting space where not just entrepreneurs but also makers and students can share experiences and know-how and where they can initiate partnerships and cooperation. JIC also helps to launch your enterprise, or provides new perspectives when you are struggling with your current business. Besides consulting, JIC also organizes educational events for future and current entrepreneurs. In the premises of JIC, you can rent an office, a conference room, a lecture hall, or a lab, and make use of the FabLab.
FabLab Brno is equipped with a CNC-milling machine, 3D printers, 3D scanner, two engraving machines, vinyl cutter and a computerised sewing and embroidery machine. It is opened 24/7 for everyone above 15 years. FabLab Brno organises around twenty events a month, in which we aim at the participation of the general public. These events are educational workshops, hackathons, FabLab tours etc.
FabLab in numbers
Number of people attending workshops during last year: 1069
Number of unique members during last year: 539
Number of door openings during last year: 20 353
FabLab has helped 15,7 % (out of 51) respondents to start their own business
FabLab Experience is a full size trailer with foldable side, which can become both a classroom for 15 students and fabrication laboratory equipped with an engraving machine, 3D printers, a CNC router, an electron microscope or robotic arm.
Every week at a different spot in the region we want to
Support creativity and dedication to make ideas of our younger generation come true
Increase the popularity of STEAM education and hands-on education
Inspire teachers
Break the barriers that might be in front of our youngsters
Openly discuss about the STEAM education around the region
It was made for schools in the way, they can easily put this informal educatoin activity to the fomral educational system. As an informal education, it can be adapted to the new technologies and new formats in no time.
Presenting a video of FabLab Experience on the stage for 800+ people from around the world.
"This is the most impressive mobile FabLab I have ever seen." Neil Gershenfeld (director of CBA MIT, father of 1750+ FabLabs)
Inspiring the world with FabLab Experience – workshop for makers from Sudan, Portugal, USA, Egypt, UK, Belgium at FABx annual event.
FabLab Experience in numbers
Number of students attending program: 11 212
Number of students attending voluntarily workshops: 1121
Half of the annual operational budget is covered by companies
FabLab Experience has inspired 70 % (out of 60) teachers to use the digital manufacturing tools in their classrooms
FabLab Experience visited festivals and conferences for 92 490 people in total, 12 000 of it abroad
Two months after the FabLab Experience “departure” we got in contact with Czechitas. Finding out that they are about to open a house of informal IT education for women. We became attracted by their vision very soon and in just a few months we equipped a FabLab corner with a 5 days a week operation and the aim to connect both communities around Czechitas and also around FabLab.
HQ PICTURE: LINK
We built a FabLab, hundreds of people started to use it but we found out that there is much deeper mutual benefit in connecting prototyping, open digital workshop like a FabLab with services for innovation agencies. For the sake of setting this cooperation right we got together another two partners from Technoport Luxembourg and Brigk Germany that are also innovation agencies with their own FabLabs and started a project called FabLabia.
In the end we are not enriching just ourselves or a our partners but we are aiming to help hundreds of European FabLabs and business innovation centres to set the services in the way that will support entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs in the best way.
FabLabia was awarded 3rd place at Brokerage Event for Innovation Agencies in Brussels, 30 January 2020.
FabLabia team in Ingolstadt.
We identified that it is easy to attract people that are makers in their nature and that are interested in hi-tech and new tools. But it is difficult to attract newcomers that might think it is not for them. For this purpose we saw the most inspiring the story of someone who is involved with all his energy he can share and we got in touch with Maker More initiative and started the first Maker Faire in Brno. Maker Faires usually starts small and than grow bigger. Maker Faire Brno was not this case, during the weekend there has been 7 000 visitors! Many of them visited both days.
Maker Faire is the world's largest show of innovation, creativity and ingenuity for the whole family. It is a meeting of creative and inquisitive people who enjoy trying new things and informally sharing knowledge and experience in a friendly environment.
The uniqueness of the Maker Faire Brno is that it is organised hand in hand with Festival Prototyp which brings also on board!
Maker Faire Brno in numbers
Number of visitors: 7 000
Number of makers showing their projects: 100
3 984 m2 full of fun, makers, workshops and speeches
Since the Covid-19 outbreak of the schools in Czech Republic. FabLab Experience crew had a time to focus on other projects that would help full fill the vision that everyone in the South Moravian region has an opportunity to meet and master digital craftsmanship. Two problems have been identified:
Students get excited by the presence of FabLab Experience for a week, but there is no place and knowledge for them to realise their ideas for the rest of the year.
Teachers that are open to adapt the digital craftsmanship tools to the educational process has not enough time or knowledge to just do so.
Both problems are addressed by FabLab University – online platform for both teachers and students. Teachers are provided with step by step guides that they can just take and put it into lessons. Students can easily learn a how to use various software and hardware for digital fabrication and they can attend competitions.
We have not find a platform like that with that level of detail and preparedness for the teachers anywhere in the world.
https://www.fablabuniversity.com/ (link will be activated in 11/2020)
FabLab University in numbers (expected)
Number of students joining FabLab University platform annually: 2000
Number of graduated teachers from the educational program: 10 first year, 40 next years
Number of step-by-step guides tailored for teachers of all subjects: 60 per year
We have been teased with the idea of organising the biggest and most prestigious meeting of open labs in the World for a last year and we made a decision to go for it in October 2019. It is like the Olympics in sport – applications are delivered 4 years before the conference itself. There is 1000+ people coming to one place, staying there for a week, inspiring, exchanging knowledge, building spirit of maker movement.
It is not just about the event, it is about much more.
It is about raising the voice towards policy makers, companies and institutions.
It is about building new labs around the country.
It is about giving more power to STEAM related initiatives.
It is about educating educators.
In the end it is about changing people lives by providing the means and support so they can make their own ideas possible.