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Thank You!

The phase I team for the SCOPES-DF project completed their work with us on November 3rd. We want to thank the team for curating our first collection of lessons with the amazing Fab Lab Network! Sincere thanks to Danielle Martin, Matt Chalker and Melvin Laprade for their enormous contributions in curating our first round of digital fabrication lessons. A total of 29 lessons have been curated and will be distributed to the community soon.

Introducing Phase II

We are pleased to introduce the new staff hired to support the work of Phase II, which includes our school experiential leadership cohort. Please help us welcome: David Cavallo (consultant), Nettrice Gaskins (program manager), Dan Smithwick (master fabricator) and Melvin Laprade (consultant).

We are thrilled to welcome this extremely talented team!

If you were with us in August, you know that FAB13 was amazing and that Fab Lab Santiago, the Santiago Fab and FabLat communities were terrific hosts. This collage of pictures and social media posts gives some sense of the fabulous week in Santiago. We are so grateful to the Santiago team (especially Tomas, Andres, Diego, Norella, Anastasia and the fantastic, toomany- to-be-named-here, supporting fabbers) for the extraordinary production of FAB13. It was beautiful, it was from the heart, it came from the lab, and it was so meaningful and relevant. Santiago will be a hard act to follow! Thank you thank you thank you Santiago!

Emerging from the week of meetings and networking was forward momentum on active programs and collaborations: Fab Cities, Humanitarian Makers, SCOPES-df, Academany, Fab in a Box and much more! And the Symposium was terrific. With several Gershenfelds illuminating the path forward, we're on our way to scaling the social impacts of digital fabrication as we physically scale in the world. Lass' Law aspires to scale digital fabrication for a compassionate, equitable, sustainable world. Let's do it together!

And please put FAB14 on your calendars. It will be in Toulouse, France the week of July 16, 2018, with Fab City events in Paris happening in tandem, and opportunities to visit labs across France just after the conference. Stay tuned...

This newsletter is packed with opportunities to get involved and participate in Fab activities across the planet...

FAB13, hosted by Fab Lab Santiago with support from the FabLAT network is only a bit more than two months away and there is much to do! We need your participation for workshops, talks, Fab Festival activities, volunteering, etc.

The global STEM Education Awards applications are online and ready for your submissions. Winners will be announced and fêted at FAB13.

The FAB13 Scholarship Fundraiser is taking donations at Generosity.com. Make a contribution today!

SCOPES-df, the Fab Foundation team's new project for digital fabrication in formal education has put out a call for content. Who better than you to submit the exciting, engaging activities that you have designed for youth in your community? Help us help formal educators get started in digital fabrication. Submit your activities today!

See what the Global Humanitarian Lab is doing and how you can get involved.

For depth and breadth read on!

Lass

So much happening already this year!

It's February and the southern hemisphere is celebrating the last days of summer, the norther hemisphere the last days (we hope!) of winter, and already in 2017 so many FABulous things are happening in the Fab Lab Network. I'll let you get to the many items in this month's newsletter but want to point out a few important ones:

Fab13 is taking shape and is ready for registration. This will be a collaborative effort of Fab Lab Chile, the FabLAT network and the global community -- so a very special gathering of the network. Please see the instructions below for FAB13 registration. There is an Early, Early Bird special if you register before March 30.

Also, if you have not completed the Global Fab Survey, please make that a priority! At FAB12 you asked us to gather and disseminate this kind of critical data to the network. Now it's up to you to help us fulfill that need. It is a project that will benefit all of us!

It is with great gratitude that I write to this incredible community that celebrates the creative individual, the collaborative spirit and the collective good; one that erases barriers to national, political and religious differences. I cannot think of any other community that would bring me such joy at this time. Thank you for all you are, all that you do and all that you will become.

To a FAB 2017!

Lass

Wishing You FABulous holidays!

At the Fab Foundation this is a time of year when we find ourselves reflecting on the many successes achieved throughout the Fab Lab network of more than 1,000 labs in over 100 countries. You are a community of people who share knowledge and collaborate to make impact in the world and so you are the true foundation of our work. Many dedicated, engaged Fabbers create and implement initiatives in STEM education, humanitarian aid, social services, technology advancement, entrepreneurship, climate change, and community building. You are our inspiration.

As we look ahead to the promise of new, exciting programs in 2017 (including Fab13 in Santiago, Chile!) I'd like to thank everyone in this remarkable community who makes the Fab Lab network what it is today.

As addition to our diverse holiday traditions, let's come together during this season to celebrate FAB people!

Happy Holidays,

Lass

Hello Fab World!

It's hard to believe that only two months have passed since FAB12, the Annual Meeting of the International Fab Lab Network! So much happens in the network in a day, a week, a month. This year Fab12 in Shenzhen brought new ideas, machines, and processes to the Fab Lab community and expanded our collective knowledge to creatively meet the future of digital fabrication.

There are too many people to thank individually for their hard work and dedication in bringing Fab12 to life. Organizing teams from Cambridge, Shenzhen and Barcelona could not have done it alone, and many people from all over the world played an critical role in making Fab12 a success. A special thanks must go out to our Sponsors especially the City of Shenzhen, Roland, Chevron, Google, Solidworks, 3NOD, Forest Scientific, Epilog, FormLabs, Trotec, Legend, Universal Laser, GCC LaserPro, Sindoh, 3DPrintLife and ShopBot. Our deepest thanks to one and all who helped make this possible!

We are already looking forward to Fab13 in Chile. Watch this space for news and opportunities to participate in the 2017 event.

With warm and sincere thanks to everyone,

Lass

Hello Fab World!

2016 is off to a great start and promises to be an exciting year as the Fab Lab community continues to grow, innovate and impact our world.

FAB12 will be here before we know it and the FAB12 teams in Cambridge, Shenzhen and Barcelona are working hard to finalize details. The website is now up and this newsletter contains details for everyone planning to attend the August 8 to 14 gathering in China. Of particular note, are the Visa application instructions which have longer lead times this year. Please check below to be sure you have all the information you need to plan your trip!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again very soon,

Lass

Hello Fab World!

2016 is off to a great start and promises to be an exciting year as the Fab Lab community continues to grow, innovate and impact our world.

FAB12 will be here before we know it and the FAB12 teams in Cambridge, Shenzhen and Barcelona are working hard to finalize details. The website is now up and this newsletter contains details for everyone planning to attend the August 8 to 14 gathering in China. Of particular note, are the Visa application instructions which have longer lead times this year. Please check below to be sure you have all the information you need to plan your trip!

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone again very soon,

Lass

Wow! We are still recovering from the excitement, frenzy of work, long hours, and fun that was FAB11. This year’s annual meeting of the global Fab Lab Network was exactly what we hoped it would be– a FABulous opportunity to reconnect with old friends, meet new colleagues, learn from each other, hear about new projects and ventures, and explore future directions, a 24-7 feast of all things Digital Fabrication. About 1000 attendees from 78 countries came together at MIT, where it all started, and we’re already looking ahead to FAB12 in China.

Thanks to our great IT and A/V teams there is a wonderful historical archive of the meeting. Please check out the photos and videos on the FAB11 website. Photo credit for much of the FAB11 photography goes to Stanley Rowin who seemed to be everywhere all the time with his camera!

There are so many people to thank, but not enough time and space here to do them justice. Suffice it to say that without the tireless help of so many of you, FAB11 would not have happened! From the many high school students, to the Fab Academy gurus, to the fabbers hosting workshops, to the crazed and incredible Fab Labs that brought their Mobile Fab Labs across the USA to get to FAB11, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. You made FAB11 a terrific experience for all. I’d also like to send special thanks to our FABulous Sponsors who went above and beyond, not only by supporting the week of events but also by organizing and participanting in the workshops and activities of the week. And very special thanks to Pamela King and Jean-Luc Pierite from the Fab Foundation for […]

The first quarter of the year has been filled with preparations for FAB11 in Boston, August 3 – 9, 2015. Below are some of the highlights. For those planning to come to Boston, if you have not yet received your registration code, please email info <<at>> FAB11 <<dot>> org.

Some of the events during the 7 day conference are public, such as the How To Make (almost) Anything Symposium and the weekend Fab Festival. Specifically for Fab Lab affiliates there will be 4 days of talks, workshops and networking at MIT– and space is TIGHT! So please REGISTER right away to be sure you can participate.M

From networking and workshops at MIT to the traditional New England clam bake at the Kennedy Library to the Symposium at Symphony Hall to the metro-area distributed Fab Festival, FAB11 is shaping up to be a FABulous gathering of our community.

We’ll keep you posted on FAB11 news, but check the FAB11 website often for updates!

Fab News 5-26

Lass

It’s been a FABulous year for the worldwide Fab Lab Network and the Fab Foundation!  So much has happened thanks to the tireless efforts of this diverse group of committed and creative Fabbers.

From the new STEM collaboration with Chevron and Fab Lab design software contribution from SOLIDWORKS to the White House Maker Faire and the opening of new labs around the world, the growth of the Network is mind-boggling and shows no sign of slowing down!  This first newsletter of 2015 highlights a few cool projects from recent months, along with a heads-up for big initiatives coming in 2015.

Happy New Year! And to every single one of you in the Fab Lab world, thank you for making 2014 truly spectacular!

Please read on here.

Lass

After gathering all the data & facts… we wanted to thank you for being a part of this amazing event! Amazing because it gathered 700+ FAB10 attendees from 50+ countries!

We had over 4000 visitors throughout the week! A Record 70 Fab Academy graduates (50% attended Fab10), 130+ global fab awards project submissions, 140+ paper submissions and 7392 tweets from 1779 contributors with 41 million impressions, it was a blast!

Over the weekend the Fab Festival opened its doors to all the citizens of the world with 10+ panel talks, 50+ short talks, 60+ workshops, 100+ demos! Monday’s symposium marked the beginning of Barcelona’s Fab City Pledge to become the first self-sufficient city on the planet.

Together we made a house & a car!
The  Endesa World Fab Condenser & the OS Vehicle in collaboration with Hewlett Packard were made with the collaborative work of many committed individuals, institutions & companies!

Gathered the Fab Textiles International Community!
The Fab Textiles exhibition brought together the the International Digital Fabrication Textile community in Barcelona for a week!

We celebrated the Global Fab Awards!
A partnership between the World Bank, USAID, Fab Foundation, AutoDesk & Intel! The awards in numbers: 414 votes from 30 countries, 7,178 pageviews of fab10.org/awards, 130+ project submissions and 8,64277 GB […]

Hello World!  2014 is turning out to be an exciting and challenging year for the fab lab community, no doubt about it!  Read on…

FABX: THE ANNUAL GLOBAL FAB LAB CONFERENCE

• First, please let us all acknowledge once again the fantastic team that organized and ran the FAB9 meeting in Yokohama, Japan last August.  Hiro Tanaka and his dream team created a beautiful, content-rich, cultural and professional experience that we will always remember. With deep appreciation and heartfelt congratulations, we thank you FAB9 Team for your FABulous work. 

The FAB9 conference presentations are online at: http://www.fab9jp.com/program.html . This year, for the first time we provided a forum for presenting research papers and posters. Proceedings are online at http://fablabinternational.org/fab-lab-research/proceedings-from-the-fab-9-research-stream (missing papers will be added in due course).

• FAB10  planning is well under way for Barcelona.  The theme is The Fab City, reflecting on global interest in and commitment to building self-sufficient cities, to reducing our mass footprints using bits to lessen our dependence on atoms. Our hosts and masterminds for the conference are IAAC and the Barcelona fab labs. Please mark the dates July 2-8, 2014  in your calendars now!  Registration is open, with early bird discounts available until April 1, 2014. Registration, information and conference updates can be found at: http://www.fab10.org. You will note that our hosts for FAB10  have implemented a new platform for publicly listing your fab lab that also integrates with the registration site. This platform is a glimpse of great connections to come, compliments of the Barcelona team. (More on the platform below) 

For the FAB10 contest this year, we’re challenging the community in an entirely different way. Our goal is to build a complete self-sufficient structure in central Barcelona in a one week time frame as demonstration of distributed collaboration, […]

KONNICHIWA FABBERS!

Only 3.3 weeks until our annual gathering, FAB9 in Japan!  As reminder, the meeting will take place August 21-27 in Yokohama.  We’re expecting about 200 of you to attend this year’s conference, a world record for the network.
Hiro Tanaka and his dream organizing team have outfitted a super fab lab for the events and crafted an incredible week of learning and making. If you have not already registered please visit the FAB9 official website to do so and get info on all things FAB9: http://fab9jp.com 

Of course this also means you only have 3 weeks to learn Japanese!  Fortunately Fujitsu, one of our FAB9 sponsors,  has created an eBook guide to learning Japanese. Check it out – and study hard!  http://www.fujitsu.com/global/services/computing/server/japanese/e-book/

For those of you unable to participate in person, we’d still like for you to participate remotely by presenting your fab lab in the morning review sessions with an Ignite format presentation.

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