Did you know that the Brussels-Capital Region has 3 regional public fablabs and manages a network of several fablabs?
These fablabs are housed at Citydev and a specific partner takes care of the implementation and programming.
The word Fablab refers to a space where ‘makers’, or the modern tinkerers / creative types, can work. The room contains shared infrastructure such as computers with specific software, 3D printers and CNC wood-cutting machines. Fablab, by the way, is a specific term coined by Prof. Negroponte of the MIT Technical Institute. The special feature of fablabs is that the ‘making’ of a product is mostly automated by the machines, and that the focus shifts to a creative use of 3D software.
In early May, the Smart City and Digital Inclusion team and Easy Brussels went to visit these fablabs.
What they noticed:
- the different types of machines available to the creators, resulting in a wide range of prototypes and products: embroidered textile logos, prints on T-shirts, logos carved from wood, pieces of furniture in kit, 3D printed machine parts;
- a space for experimenting;
- a space for training;
- a space for exchanging experiences among hobbyists;
- for City Fab 2 and 3, a focus on SMEs and local production series;
- for City Fab 1, a focus on a low threshold for citizens and discovery;
- for City Fab 3, a media lab with a green key studio and a virtual environment.
This visit is part of the search for complementarity and mutualisation in innovation spaces.
For Smart City and innovation in general, the room for experimentation and the two target audiences of citizens, early adopters and SMEs, was certainly interesting. This is an opportunity, in that same fablab spirit, to focus on open data, IoT/sensors or virtual reality, for example. Also, for digital inclusion, the fact that effective products are made thanks to a digital process could be part of an awareness drive.
More info and links to the regional Fablabs :
www.cityfab1.brussels
www.cityfab2.brussels
www.cityfab3.brussels
