20100521

Present: Sherry Lassiter (MIT), Peter Troxler (fablab.ch), John Boeck (Fab Lab NY), Klaas Hernamdt & Morten Hedelykke Dietz Fuglsang (both Fab Lab Amsterdam), Eddie Kirkby (Manchester), Frederik Krueger & Anya Calantzis (both Fab Lab ZA & Terrestrial), Michael Angst (Sustainable Bronx), Frosti Gíslason (Fab Lab Iceland)

What is it we're talking about?

FabBusiness = new business platform to handle the community, sustainability (also commercially) is critical

Work on 3 levels:

• exchange experience about own sustainability
• make (the individual lab’s) own business international
• leverage of the network capacities

2 main questions

• How do we organize it
• What are the conditions (i.e. concerning the Fab Charter)

Ways to make money for a Fab Lab

1. Fab members / instructors — give $, give time
2. Business / product development — do initial steps at Lab, pay later when product generates $$
3. brokerage of services, workshops
4. Fab Lab network as a research entity (Living Lab idea)
5. distributed manufacturing (ZA case: jewelry brand that can be manufactured and sold around the world), scale project to global level

Ideas

• Question on self-serviced learning vs. platform approach; what are migration paths from N=5 to N=500? Typically what entrepreneurs do, need much more knowledge than just manufacturing: e.g. promotion, sales, etc. … can we provide the learning & best practices needed?
• A Fab Lab is good for “materializing an idea” (as opposed to Ponoko, which is a distribution channel). However, there are serious design constraints (from the equipment at a Fab Lab) that make it hard to scale up a design.
• The people at/around a Fab Lab are the key strength.
• Manchester Fab Lab’s USP is the international network, it provides value for business: access to knowledge in the Lab; credits, buy/bring in specialists.
• Use the network to present ideas and to look for opportunities (e.g. days for inventors, days for local businesses).
• Put together the expertise as a global community. → Open Innovation
• Local Fab Lab: needs dictate the local model; the global network helps to learn about the expertise.

How to go further (= how do we organize it)

1. directory of the community / expertise
2. physical presence
3. stories

+ reading in between sessions → set up wiki at fablab.is

Next call

June 16, 8 am EST