‘Fab Lab-ulous’ opportunity for almost anyone to make almost anything
The UK’s first Fab Lab (www.fablabmanchester.org) has opened in Manchester’s landmark Chips Building – bringing innovation to the people – in a hi-tech community mini-factory.
Fab Labs give everyone, from young children through to entrepreneurs and businesses, the capability to bring their ideas and inventions to life.
The first UK ‘Fab Labbers’ have already made a ‘Sky Baby’ folding travel carry cot; a ‘Crackit Bat’ ultra-light beach cricket bat and a model wind turbine. A group of young carers are working towards creations that will help make their caring duties easier, including: a baby’s bottle with an inbuilt colour changing temperature gauge; a multi-purpose DIY tool; and a toothbrush with an inbuilt MP3 player.
Born from an outreach project by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in inner-city Boston, Fab Labs have exploded around the world. From urban areas, to the villages of Africa, they are connected by a global video link network, enabling ideas, designs and knowledge to be shared across cultures and borders.
The Manufacturing Institute intends the Manchester FabLab in the East Manchester regeneration area to be the first of many for the UK. The Project was catalysed through the Innovation Manchester initiative and is being supported by the Manchester Innovation Investment Fund, comprising: The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA), the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA), Manchester City Council, Manchester: Knowledge Capital, and the Commission for the New Economy.
FabLab founder Professor Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT, said: “Fab Labs give people the tools they need to create technology, to be creative and make the stuff that they can’t buy in the shops. Manchester led the first industrial revolution and now it is at the centre of a new industrial revolution where anyone can make anything, anywhere using digital manufacturing.”