Fab Labs: a global network for local entrepreneurship

Editor's Notes

• #2: Many forces can bring about large-scale changes in economies and societies— demographic shifts, labor force expansion, urbanization, or new patterns in capital formation, for example. But since the Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, technology has had a unique role in powering growth and transforming economies. Technology represents new ways of doing things, and, once mastered, creates lasting change, which businesses and cultures do not “unlearn.” Adopted technology becomes embodied in capital, whether physical or human, and it allows economies to create more value with less input. At the same time, technology often disrupts, supplanting older ways of doing things and rendering old skills and organizational approaches irrelevant. Disruptive innovations: Technologies with the potential to disrupt the status quo, alter the way people live and work, rearrange value pools, and lead to entirely new products and services. Adopted technology becomes embodied in capital, whether physical or human, and it allows economies to create more value with less input. At the same time, technology often disrupts, supplanting older ways of doing things and rendering old skills and organizational approaches irrelevant. As the early 20th-century economist Joseph Schumpeter observed, the most significant advances in economies are often accompanied by a process of “creative destruction,” which shifts profit pools, rearranges industry structures, and replaces incumbent businesses. (http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/business_technology/disruptive_technologies)
• #3: Intro about what I do and how I know FabLabs.
• #4: Richard Stallman and colleagues created licences based upon the principles of the four freedoms to use, share, study and fork - for example in the GNU project. Open design differs from the above democratizing approaches because it additionally strives to qualify citizens to use digital fabrication technologies for participation in knowledge transformation processes for societal development and change. Digital maker communities are groups of “high-tech DIY who are democratising access to the modern means to make things” (Neil Gershenfeld) Characteristics of the maker community: Emphasis on learning through hands on creation Trans-disciplinary approach Details of projects freely available online FabLabs are an example of maker community.
• #5: In 2001
• #6: Making what you cannot buy in stores. Killer app: ability to design and build products for the market of one. Ability of consumers to become active participants in creating the products that they want.
• #7: After the success of the course and the first fablab, they replicated the initiative creating another Lab in Boston. In these FabLab, there were some girls from Ghanaian immigrant community and they pushed for a FabLab in Ghana —> Tokoradi Fab Lab was created. Really important to show that it is democratic and can impact education of children even 7yo. Blikstein in 2008: FabLab@School Can small manufacturing fablabs infuse new ideas and possibilities into global solution networks and give a boost to local entrepreneurship and job creation? That’s what the network of fablabs is aspiring to do by providing access to powerful manufacturing tools (including laser cutters, milling machines and 3d printers) to an increasingly broad range of users.
• #9: FabLab – digital fabrication laboratories – were set up to inspire people and entrepreneurs to turn their ideas into new products and prototypes by giving them access to a range of advanced digital manufacturing technology. The idea was conceived by inventor and scientist Professor Neil Gershenfeld at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). His idea was a simple one: to provide the environment, skills, advanced materials and technology to make things cheaply and quickly anywhere in the world, and to make this available on a local basis to entrepreneurs, students, artists, small businesses and in fact, anyone who wants to create something new or bespoke. Such labs are outfitted with tools which a generation ago would have taken a whole factory to house and several kinds of engineers experts to operate.
• #10: Electronics: The Economist 2013: Eventually it will be possible to print most electrical components directly into a product, predicts Michael Renn, the director of Optomec’s development laboratory. But although the system can print transistors, and could thus produce logic circuits, it cannot print the billions of tiny transistors found in microprocessors and other chips. Those chips would still need to be manufactured in the usual way and incorporated into a 3D-printed product—though Dr Renn is quick to point out that he can use his Aerosol Jet to wire them up. Source: http://www.gizmag.com/voxel8-3d-electronics-printer/35489/ Voxel8, a printer presented at CES that makes it much easier to blend plastic, conductive ink and other electronic components in the same object to manufacture highly customizable devices, such as your very own quadcopter.
• #11: Source: http://fablab.waag.org/content/fab-charter
• #12: FabLabs have the ambition to share digital fabrication blueprints as well as operating instructions for using the machines int he worldwide community. They hold artistic values of open and reciprocal knowledge sharing and implicitly understand knowledge as a public asset, as a commons! Public access to the Fab Lab is essential. A Fab Lab is about democratizing access to the tools for personal expression and invention. So a Fab Lab must be open to the public for free or in-kind service/barter at least part of the time each week, that’s essential. Open days, workshops, etc.
• #13: Fab Labs have to share a common set of tools and processes. A prototyping facility is not the equivalent of a Fab Lab. A 3D printer is not a Fab Lab. The idea is that all the labs can share knowledge, designs, and collaborate across international borders. If I make something in Boston and send you the files and documentation, you should be able to reproduce it there, fairly painlessly. If I walk into a Fab Lab in Russia, I should be able to do the same things that I can do in Nairobi, Cape Town, Delhi, Amsterdam or Boston Fab Labs. The critical machines and materials are identified in this list: http://fab.cba.mit.edu/about/fab/inv.html and there’s a list of open source software and freeware that we use online as well (embedded in Fab Academy modules here: http://academy.cba.mit.edu/classes/ ) But essentially it’s the processes and the codes and the capabilities that are important. So you want a laser cutter for 2D/3D design and fabrication, a high precision milling machine for making circuits and molds for casting, a vinyl cutter for making flexible circuits and crafts, a fairly sophisticated electronics workbench for prototyping circuits and programming microcontrollers, and if you can possibly find the funds, you’ll want the large wood routing machine for furniture and housing applications. We are also testing fairly inexpensive, but robust and with fair resolution 3D printers—the most current favorite is listed in the inventory. Programming tools, arduino, open software, vinyl machine, etc. Each FabLab is different. Source: http://www.cba.mit.edu/media/pictures.html
• #14: 3D printing works like a printer which instead of ink uses material. Opposed to traditional technique which rather remove material by cutting, drilling or machining. For this reason it is often referred to as additive manufacturing. The product is designed in 3D on a computer with CAD applications or similar software or downloaded from the web (or, alternatively, a digital model may be created by scanning an object with a 3d scanner or by tweaking the scannerized version of a real object) and then a software takes a series of digital slices and send this info to the printer. There successive thin layers of material (0.05 mm to 0.3 mm) are deposited until a solid object emerges. There are different techniques. Here in the picture it is illustrated the selective laser sintering technique. The SLS involves the use of a high power laser to fuse small particles of plastic, metal, ceramic, or glass powders into a mass that has a desired three-dimensional shape. The laser selectively fuses powdered material by scanning cross-sections generated from a 3-D digital description of the part (for example from a CAD file or scan data) on the surface of a powder bed. After each cross-section is scanned, the powder bed is lowered by one layer thickness, a new layer of material is applied on top, and the process is repeated until the part is completed. Other additive manufacturing processes are stereolithography (SLA) and fused deposition modeling. Overall, the layers of material are bounded together by deposition or by melting or my melting and deposition. Source for info on savings and revenues: McKinsey 2013 - On the consumer side, prices for basic 3D printers using fused deposition modeling technology have declined from $30,000 a few years ago to less than $1,000 for some models. 3D printing has several advantages over conventional construction methods. With 3D printing, an idea can go directly from a file on a designer’s computer to a finished part or product, potentially skipping many traditional manufacturing steps, including procurement of individual parts, creation of parts using molds, machining to carve parts from blocks of material, welding metal parts together, and assembly. 3D printing can also reduce the amount of material wasted in manufacturing and create objects that are difficult or impossible to produce with traditional techniques, including objects with complex internal structures that add strength, reduce weight, or increase functionality. In metal manufacturing, for example, 3D printing can create objects with an internal honeycomb structure, while bioprinting can create organs with an internal network of blood vessels. Current limitations of 3D printing, which vary by printing technique, include relatively slow build speed, limited object size, limited object detail or resolution, high materials cost, and, in some cases, limited object strength. However, in recent years rapid progress has been made in reducing these limitations.
• #15: Source: http://www.cba.mit.edu/media/pictures.html With 3d printing, economies of scale matter almost nothing. While for producing one piece with traditional manufacturing, a mould should be produced and the product should be machined and assembled, this is not the case with 3d printing. Moreover, the prototype can be easily adjusted and modified and the result immediately visible.
• #18: Numerically controlled milling machine. Advanced Architecture Fabhouse: 75 m2 house is suitable for a family of 4 and the use of light wood as its main structural component makes it possible to assemble the house in fifteen days. It produces up to 3 times the energy it needs. The house used the resources from its environment (water, sun, wind) to create a microclimate that passively optimises the basic conditions of habitability. 90% wood.
• #19: Source: http://reprap.org/wiki/PCB_Milling
• #20: Source: http://libraryfablab.weebly.com/mini-fab-lab.html
• #21: Fab Labs must participate in the larger, global Fab Lab network, that is, you can’t isolate yourself. This is about being part of a global, knowledge-sharing community. The public videoconference is one way to do connect. Attending the annual Fab Lab meeting is another. FAB11 is in Cambridge, Boston & Somerville, MA, USA on August 3rd – 9th, 2015. Collaborating and partnering with other labs in the network on workshops, challenges or projects is another way. Participating in Fab Academy is yet another way. —> commons-based peer to peer production approach. Beyond providing local points of access to digital production devices, FabLabs have the ambition to share digital fabrication blueprints as well as operating instructions for using machines in the worldwide community. They hold altruistic values of open and reciprocal knowledge sharing and implicitly understand knowledge as a public asset, as a commons.
• #22: More info: http://enablingthefuture.org/ Public domain file was shared. Today more than 800.000 prosthetics hands provided for free. Cost is 50 dollars
• #24: Seek to combine entrepreneurial innovation, research and education under a single roof. On fair use: http://www.slideshare.net/ptroxler/fab-lab-ip-and-sharing-mechanisms : Fab CharterSecrecy: designs and processes developed in fab labs must remainavailable for individual use although intellectual property can beprotected however you choose•  Sharing for individual use – learning•  This is provided for in some of the legal IP protection mechanisms (privat use, educational “exception”, fair use. Creative Commons•  A system of public licenses that grant reuse of copyrighted work•  The strategy is to use a publicly available, standardized license to replace the normal contractual relationship between rights holder and user.•  Rights holder can select, which restrictions s/he wants to add to the general permission to use, distribute or perform the work additionally to crediting the creator and mentioning the license –  Share-alike – user must re-license derivatives under the same license –  Non-commercial – use in connection with “making money” is not allowed (not even fundraising for a charity or putting on a blog with Google Ads to cover hosting costs) –  No derivatives – use only unaltered copies•  There are (up to now) national versions of the licenses – the idea was to adapt the licenses to national legislation. This is probably going to disappear•  Pay attention to compatibility issues when re-using material. Neil Gershenfeld —> The bad news is that intellectual propertyis no longer protectable.The good news is that intellectual propertycan still exist, but it will not be based oncontrol of scarce resources.Companies will seek compensation by howthey add value, not on their control of IP.
• #25: Source: https://www.changemakers.com/BCideas/entries/makespace By sharing a core set of capabilities, projects started in one fablab can be continued and modified in others. Collaborative and open-source ethos —> while the creators can rights to the inventions, as much of the process as possible is shared so that others can build and learn from the work. Fablabs provide access to spaces, tools and expertise for entrepreneurs to learn new techniques, collaboratively design and quickly prototype innovations. In many cases, the problems that fablabs focus on are in fact highly localised and address needs that government or markets are overlooked. once developed, however, they are adaptable in markets and communities around the world - to the local circumstances. f.e fab labs in norway, afganistan and kenya contributed to the development of a powerful open source tool for amplifying the reach of wifi networks.
• #26: Academic Fab Labs aim to develop a culture of learning which is hands-on, trans-disciplinary and open. Professional Fab Lab: Mainly focused to entrepreneurs, start-ups and innovators. It prioritises its services of fast prototyping, consultancy, rent of machines, training and other personalised services looking into innovation. Social Fab Labs: aim to give access to the digital machines to the entire community and to promote a culture of digital fabrication.
• #27: Fablabs represent a new possibility for letting learners of all ages hone their technological skills. The ability to turn ideas into useful goods is going to expand and deepen in the next few decades and FabLabs allow a head start on these opportunities, encouraging people who might never have thought of themselves as thinkers or makers before. This goes together with the other objective of fablabs which is to provide spaces, skills and technique for entrepreneurship. These two functions are overlapping and mutually reinforcing. Young people who receive trainings on what personal fabrication can do are most likely to continue experimenting as they grow older.
• #28: Footprint One or more Foundation Robots make the footprint: first 20 layers of the structure. They can move according to a predifined path continuously or back and forth. Small robots are connected with pipes to the supplier robot, that feeds the printing material. Walls After the base is done, Grip Robots are clamped onto the footprint. They extend the structure further by printing layers of material meanwhile holding onto layers they previously printed. Their nozzle can shift from side to side allowing to create curved walls. Ceilings The grip of these robots is enough strong and the curing speed of the material is enough fast to use them for horizontal printing. These robots can print ceilings and window/door lintels. Reinforcement To reinforce the shell vacuum robots attach onto it and print additional layers over it. These layers don’t have to be parallel to each-other, they can be free-form and be applied only where structure requires them. Vacuum Robots can travel over surfaces of any inclination.
• #29: Access and training Support and connections Social innovation Though Fab Labs, designing and prototyping is cheaper, quicker and supported (machines and skills). Fab Labs contain design software and prototyping equipment and offer support, training and networking to spur innovation. Engine for business creation. Launching novel products will become easier and cheaper. The speed and low cost of iteration means that more versions of a given part will be tried; outcomes and timelines will be improved, 3D printing is ideal for prototyping when a fully‐functional part is not required. Traditional prototyping requires skilled artisans in machine shops and can take days or even weeks; and each object can cost tens of thousands of dollars – all to create (for example) a plastic rear view mirror housing that a designer looks at and needs to change again. An enterprise‐grade 3D printer can take the CAD (Computer Aided Design) file the designer is using and build, layer by layer, a physical sample in eight hours for a materials cost of $100. The designer can then look at the part, tinker with some aspect in the CAD software model, and print out an iterated version by the next morning. By lowering the cost and dramatically accelerating the time-to-market for both prototypes and tooling, 3D printing solves particular pain points in some manufacturing chains, and levels the playing field between large manufacturers and the start-up in the garage. Speed to market can be very fast (f.e. the website shape ways had covers for iPad on sale 4 days after its launch in 2010) + the risk of going to market falls to almost zero because entrepreneurs can test ideas before scaling up and tweak the design in response to feedback from buyers. Architects for prototypes of buildings.
• #30: Encourage invention, innovation and commercialisation of new products.
• #31: Rise of prosumers New wave of manufacturing: Creation: Open design & co-design, Trans-disciplinary approach, crowdfunding Development: open software, open hardware, access to machines of the lab, shared platforms, rapid prototyping Creation: Shared platforms, Support from the community, distributed production. The capabilities to serve a market of one can also be harnessed to serve a market of a family, a neighbourhood or a village and meet needs unseen or deemed unprofitable by existing businesses. McKinsey 2013: Everywhere, the democratization of technology is advancing, reducing barriers to entry and allowing entrepreneurs and other new competitors to disrupt established markets and industries. Cloud services make it easier for new companies with little capital to obtain operating infrastructure and access to markets that it has taken global companies decades to build. 3D printing goes a step further; it not only opens up markets to competition from entrepreneurs, but it also has the potential to shift value directly to consumers as they learn how to make things that they used to buy. To compete in this environment, companies need deep sources of value or competitive advantage. Source: Rayna (2015). Blurred line between consumption and production (users both consume and produce content). 3D printing enables the consumers to intervene at any stage in the production process, from the initial idea to the fully manufactured process, and even to carry out the all process (in certain cases). Co-creation can occur at different stage of the production process: design (co-design), manufacturing (co-manufacturing) and distribution. Design: online plus using own software! Manufacturing: at home or a local shop (in both cases, the consumer remains in charge). —> prosumers.
• #34: Engage with technology bottom-up Since FabLabs allow people to create prototypes of inventions either on their own or in collaboration, they are a prime example of ways in which some manufacturing functions might be reclaimed for entrepreneurs by regions that have seen industrial operations come and go. 2 reasons for re-shoring: sophisticated productions; shared production.
• #36: McKinsey: Vision: Everything made to order in one step - Imagine that you need new shoes. Instead of going to the store, you go online and buy a cool shoe design for a few dollars, or just download one for free. With a few clicks, you use a mobile phone app to scan your foot, select a few colors, and upload the design to print at a local 3D printing shop. Next you log on to a popular furniture site, browse for a while, and select an interesting metal and plastic chair, specifying a few adjustments to the size. A few hours later, on the way to the gym, you visit the 3D printing shop and try on your new shoes, which fit perfectly. Your new 3D-printed chair is delivered to your doorstep later that week. 1. Upload can be done by anyone, from designers to the person himself by 3d scanning. 2. The person is part of the production process itself because is feeding the data for this to happen and therefore contributing to increased functionality of the product. 3. The good can be printed by any local fabrication laboratory or, in the future, at home. —> fab labs as locations for shared production challenging given modes of industrial production (new urban economy?). - raw materials savings up to 90% (http://www.explainingthefuture.com/3dp2e_chapter1.pdf) —> less waste - savings because products is printed on demand - savings because product is printed locally What could happen? —> 3d Printing, big data, smart infrastructure are component of an on-going revolution This changes everything. Products (from shoes to drugs) can be personalised and created on demand. Offshore production will likely move back to rich countries because companies want to be closer to their customers so that they can respond more quickly to changes in the demand How can the world be if we embrace this! A world with less waste, less pollution, people don't die waiting for a transplant and where the consumer can engage directly with the private sector to improve the functionality or the efficacy of the products. Can it be associated to what happened with services?
• #37: a practical example: https://www.digitalforming.com/Home/Technology Next generation of customisation: Aesthetic customisation and functional customisation: scanning part of the body and creating things that are made to fit customised and on-demand. Imagine that you can engage with a brand and interact so that you can pass your personal attributes to the product you are about to buy. Why? No economies of scale plus additional value of customisation. New business model that makes the buying process more fun and interactive. I think that everything that for which customisation is valuable to the consumer will be customised (f.e. shoes, forniture, …). I don't think this will apply to everything. what is the future? probably an hybridisation between subtractive and additive manufacturing already in few years.
• #38: what do you think this is? Centres of community-driven innovation, where problems that Governments and corporations have not addressed can be solved using local materials and those solutions can later be shared around the world -> projects initiated at one fablab can be adopted, modified for local conditions and improved by other nodes in the network. You have either Fab Labs which are specialised in academy, entrepreneurship or community. But more common are Fab Labs where these 3 legs co-exist and support each other.
• #40: open source environmental monitoring platform consisting of arduino-compatible hardware, data visualisation web API and mobile app. Developed in Fab Lab Bcn,
• #41: unrestricted access to 3D printers could make it easy for individuals to freely replicate the designs of popular consumer items. Open-source hardware needs to codify norms and establish best practices around fair use, which will protect the rights of innovators without stifling innovation IPR: Unquestionably, if you have a 3D printer and you have a sample of the part that’s broken, and you scan it and then use that part as a spare part, it appears to be fair use. On the other hand, if you go online and you download a digital file of the part and you print it out, that digital file was in fact owned by the company that makes that spare part. So, that appears to be illegal. It’s the sort of the thing that we’re going to probably find out in future court decisions. (Interlog 2013). (f.e. what is you can something that is broken and use the scan to re-create the spare piece or what if you download something online which was uploaded unlawfully) → need international agreement for enforcement processes across the border. Copyright infringements: Currently, one-off products are manufactured using this technology; as a result, patents and IP have not been a deciding factor for production. However, for migration of this activity from hobbyist communities to mass production, resolving this issue is tantamount to commercialization. http://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/3d-printing-industry-analysis Taxation: it is not clear whether tariffs should be paid if only a digital file is actually crossing the border or whether taxes should be paid if the consumer is printing an object at home or in an ad-hoc laboratory. Critical point here (for IPR and taxation): access to the file does not entail violation per se! While having pirate music gives you direct possibility to listen to it, the fact that you 3D scan a object protected by copyright does not mean that you are gonna actually print it or that the print will allow you to have a functional object! Production rather than consumption per se. the mere selling/exchanging of a digital file does not necessary imply that the 3D model will actually be printed. Plus, a file can be significantly modified by the end-user before it is printed and might also become a different object. I think it will be really hard to impose any control over this in terms of tariff collection. The GATT/GATS issue is especially interesting here. On one hand, (as I wrote above) the digital file does not have any utility if it is not printed. On the other hand, the companies that would provide these files for a cost will most likely not be manufacturers, but rather be specialised in 3D design. Ownership of data: data uploaded by the consumer (?). Also, surveillance of the internet on who uploads certain data might raise issues of privacy! Conformity Standards: today the majority of the products we purchase are subject to strict production standards and testing, with manufacturers held liable for any accidents and injuries that may arise if their products inappropriately break or malfunction. What if the object is downloaded and printed at home? would the designer be liable or the website via which it was shared, the supplier of printing material, the manufacturer of the 3d printer? (From 3D printing, second edition). Now: surveillance programs, precautionary principle, product recall and withdrawal requirements, special measures: all this breaks down if consumers start doing things at home. The European Union needs an updated regulatory framework to deal with this modern technology, which currently is not explicitly regulated. It is not clear whether, under the European Commission proposal for the Directive on medical devices, all 3D printed medical devices would fall under the category of custom-made devices. If this were the case, the regulatory burden on this new technology would remain low, as manufacturers would only be asked to ensure that their devices are safe and perform as intended. Legal liability - an issue especially critical for applications in the healthcare sector. Today, there is no clear framework that allows identifying who should be responsible in case of accidents or malfunctioning of 3D printed devices. Regulatory standards for parts, processes and safety that apply to 3D printers, materials and software. Other safety standards: When printing ends and production begins? fire safety, machine security, electrical isolation, health issues (a bit the uber story) Global collaboration: there are no borders to the internet therefore it is critical that countries collaborate, especially when it is about safety, recall for a product/material, etc. In general, need to apply all these things to digital content and find the right balance. Strong legal uncertainty and regulatory intervention is necessary to reduce the risk of fragmentation of the market.
• #42: Sectoral disruption: the functioning of entire sectors might be disrupted, from construction to manufacturing. In some case, disruption will come from a combination of different innovative solutions (f.e. in pharma, genomics and 3D printing are playing together an important role) Reshoring: The value chain is redesigned and the need for global value chain approach disappears once the traditional steps of manufacturing are replaced by direct manufacturing. —> reversal of GCV trend? Employment: Moreover, probably the workforce needed will be less and more specialised and therefore production will likely be re-located next to the customers, offering the possibility to engage more closely with the clients. —> new division of labour between large class production companies, shared local production facilities and private makers. Wealth and GDP: it is not clear what will happen, but what I see is reduction of costs of products (because files are available online and most probably the consumer will pay the cost of the materials and technical support, rather than costs of branding, transportation, stock, etc) at the same time as consumer surplus increases (from customisation). This is part of a larger trend that I will be happy to discuss. I believe that digitisation is one of the explanation of failing to achieve growth today. Our measure of growth only accounts material growth, but does not consider the wealth/consumer surplus which information technology is creating. The last point is part of a bigger discussion around how we measure wealth today. New trends such as industry 4.0 and sharing economy might exacerbate the divergence between actual consumer surplus created and the measurements of it today (which is GDP). When it comes to certain application, there might be not only a divergence but actually a trade-off between creating wealth and using GDP as a reference point. Happy to discuss further this point.
• #44: check: http://thethingsnetwork.org/