Fab Foundation’s Sherry Lassiter, Prof. Neil Gershenfeld and the prize-winning Peru delegation had a lot to celebrate at Fab13! Watch a video produced by Fab Lab Connect with images from Fab13.
—
1,000 people attended the Conferences, 500 people were at the Symposium, and 2,000 people participated in the Festival! By the numbers is one way to sum up Fab13 – the 13th International Fab Lab Meeting held in Santiago de Chile from July 31 to August 6, 2017. Each year, members of the more than 1,000 worldwide Fab Labs gather to share, discuss, collaborate and create communities around the different local and global interests regarding digital manufacturing, innovation and technology. This year, the central topic of #Fab13 was “Fabricating Society”!
At the Santiago World Innovation Conference, Peru won first place – US $5000 – among more than 80 candidates. India and the United States also fared well. The Open BioFab Lima team won with a project to teach science in low-income schools through low-cost biolaboratories. The prize will be used to implement the program in a school affected by the El Niño phenomenon.
One of the most impressive Symposium presentations was about Programming Matter, how you will control matter and give it the shape that you want.
A Workshop with high attendance revolved around kids creating their own Drones, with simple equipment and components.
The Fab13 Santiago group summarized: “More than 100 countries added to our way of making a better society. It was an intense week of learning and a lot of good vibes. We had everything! From 3D printing, to housing, from textile design to smart city. This is just one more step, in a new way of understanding the world, how it works and how we see ourselves in it.”
From Ecuador’s Fab Lab Yachay, Project Mentor Roberto Gallo gave us his perceptions of this year’s Fab13. We asked him how Fab13 surpassed previous gatherings:
“In my opinion it is interesting what Jens Dyvik is doing, using a fablab to fabricate another fablab. He presented a CNC made in a shopbot that can cut metal – a shopbot can’t do that. FabLab2.0 – a FabLab making another FabLab – wasn’t a reality.”
What did you learn that will help you at your Fab Lab?
“I learned that the Fab Lab community loves my final project called BAP (the bits and atoms pen) and they want me to finish as soon as possible.”
What are you planning for next year’s gathering?
“Pavilion Lat was a successful project and some brands want to sponsor it next year, so in the Latin America Network we are making a plan to install an Interactive Pavilion in France.”
ONE MORE NUMBER: 14. Fab14 is scheduled to take place in July 2018 in Toulouse, France – followed by the FabLabs Festival in different cities of France – then the FabCity Summit in Paris the next week. Video about Fab14
See you at Fab14!
For sharing images in our “Fab13 – One To Remember!” video, Fab Lab Connect would like to thank:
@FabFndn
@Fab13Santiago
@lab_uai
@andreaskopp
@Corfo
@EldySteph
@claudialabbeCL
@tvivancol
@Agencia_Andina
@squaregolab
