Context & Agenda

Fab Lab Barcelona empowers communities to design and make possible futures. The centre develops its activity around four main actions: dwell, eat, produce and share.

Dwell is comprised here as an essential part of living in communities and sustainable housing, building smart cities and exploring new materials through technology in order to develop different kinds of habitat.

Eat is explored in projects that handle different thematic such as environment, ecosystem, technology and waste. These projects address to this human basic function a great power in advancing research and development of robotics through an everyday action. Although starting as an individual action, the act of eating is a formidable cultural and political constituent that defines whole civilizations.

Produce has a central role in every project Fab Lab accomplishes. Based on the transition of the PITO (Product In Trash Out) model into the DIDO (Data In Data Out) model, it is essential that the prototypes are thought, designed and produced within a holistic view. The Fab Lab community includes all types of makers and people who are curious about producing things themselves, exploring and playing with technology.

Share comes as a principle and a natural consequence for the Fab Lab network. The principle of envisioning communities of producers and change makers can only be possible with the share of knowledge, technology and information. It is also a consequence while most of the projects are inviting the community to participate and to be actors on the changes they want to have in their cities and neighbourhoods.

What is a Fab Lab?

A Fab Lab is a technical prototyping platform for innovation and invention, providing stimulus for local entrepreneurship. A Fab Lab is also a platform for learning and innovation: a place to play, to create, to learn, to mentor, and to invent.

To be a Fab Lab means connecting to a global community of learners, educators, technologists, researchers, makers and innovators – a knowledge sharing network that spans 30 countries and 24 time zones.

Because all Fab Labs share common tools and processes, the program is building a global network, a distributed laboratory for research and invention.