A think and make laboratory enabling communities globally to harness design and technology for collective transformation.
Established in 2007, Fab Lab Barcelona (FLB) is the first of it’s kind in the European Union, positioning itself as a leader within a global network of over 1,800 Fab Labs across more than 100 countries. As an integral player in shaping the future, FLB advances digital fabrication’s role in solving the industry’s most pressing challenges through innovation.
At the intersection of technology and design, Fab Lab Barcelona is an innovation hub driving education and research in digital fabrication. It serves as the global headquarters for the Fab Academy, in collaboration with MIT’s, Centre for Bits and Atoms, and plays a central role in coordinating the global Fab Lab network. FLB operates at the human scale, focusing on everyday experiences to shape solutions for the future, while anticipating emerging trends in seven strategic areas of expertise.
Fab Lab Barcelona’s portfolio extends across diverse sectors, providing consultancy services to companies seeking advanced technological solutions, developing new educational models, and advising governments on creating cities of tomorrow. Its mission: to empower industries, citizens, and policymakers to prototype the future.
Empowering citizens to engage with ecological systems and biodiversity through open food, energy, and biological explorations.
Revolutionising design by leveraging global connectivity to move data rather than products, fostering a more adaptive and sustainable production landscape.
Challenging the status quo by identifying emerging socio-political contexts and offering disruptive strategies to shape tomorrow’s society.
Delivering radical educational experiences that immerse students in emergent technologies, business models, and digital fabrication.
Pioneering resilient materials and textiles while reimagining production and distribution methodologies for the next era of urban life.
Designing urban spaces for multi species diversity by integrating food, energy, and materials to build self-sufficient ecosystems.
Developing cutting-edge tools and technologies to transform urban data into actionable insights, shaping responsive and adaptive cityscapes.
Guillem Camprodon is a designer and technologist working at the intersection of emergent technologies and grassroots communities. He is the Executive Director of Fab Lab Barcelona at IAAC, a leader in the global network of over 2,000 Fab Labs and home to the Distributed Design Platform.
Guillem is passionate about teaching and co-directs the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF), a collaboration between IAAC and ELISAVA. He previously led Smart Citizen, a platform challenging the traditional top-down Smart City model by empowering communities with tools to understand their environment.
As a former research lead, he participated in numerous European-funded research projects, including Making Sense, iSCAPE, GROW Observatory, Organicity, DECODE, ROMI, and Reflow.
Guillem Camprodon is a designer and technologist working at the intersection of emergent technologies and grassroots communities. He is the Executive Director of Fab Lab Barcelona at IAAC, a leader in the global network of over 2,000 Fab Labs and home to the Distributed Design Platform.
Guillem is passionate about teaching and co-directs the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF), a collaboration between IAAC and ELISAVA. He previously led Smart Citizen, a platform challenging the traditional top-down Smart City model by empowering communities with tools to understand their environment.
As a former research lead, he participated in numerous European-funded research projects, including Making Sense, iSCAPE, GROW Observatory, Organicity, DECODE, ROMI, and Reflow.
Luciana Asinari is the Educational Programs Lead at Fab Lab Barcelona, where she oversees the formal educational offerings, including the Master in Design for Emergent Futures, the Fab Academy, the Textile Tech Incubator, and Fabricademy. Since 2014, she has also coordinated the global Fab Academy Diploma.
Luciana’s primary interest lies in the impact of digital fabrication tools on education and the implementation of distributed educational models within the Fab Lab Network. This model connects students, mentors, and faculty globally for content sharing while allowing local prototyping to impact their immediate communities.
Luciana holds degrees in Social Sciences and Fine Arts.
Santiago Fuentemilla holds a Master’s degree in Architecture from the University of La Salle (Universitat Ramon Llull) and graduated from the Fab Academy at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms in 2012. He is currently pursuing a PhD in digital manufacturing at UPC (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).
With over 10 years of experience in international architectural projects, Santiago joined Fab Lab Barcelona in 2013, where he leads the Future Learning research area, focusing on innovative educational models to tackle future challenges. He directs the global Fab Academy and Fabricademy programs at the Barcelona node and has been a professor of the Master in Design for Emergent Futures (MDEF) since 2017.
Santiago also contributes to various EU-funded research projects, including TEC-LA (STEAM education), DO IT (entrepreneurship and social innovation for youth), PHALABS 4.0 (photonics research), POP-MACHINA (maker movement and circular economy), and SHEMAKES (empowering sustainable fashion innovators).
Xavier Domínguez is a multimedia engineer, action researcher at Fab Lab Barcelona, and lecturer in the Master in Design for Emerging Futures at IAAC-Elisava. He is also a global instructor in the Fab Academy program led by Neil Gershenfeld at MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA).
Since 2017, Xavier has dedicated his career to researching methods and tools that foster creativity and innovation in developing competencies and skills for life, guided by principles of circularity, sustainability, and equity.
He participates in several private and EU-funded research projects, including TEC-LA (measuring the impact of maker project-based learning on STEAM education), DO IT (entrepreneurship and social innovation for youth), PHALABS 4.0 (photonics research and its Fab Lab applications), POP-MACHINA (the maker movement and circular economy), and SHEMAKES (empowering sustainable fashion innovators).
Alessandra Schmidt is an administrator and researcher with a critical approach to social development and management sciences. She holds a degree in Business Administration from the Federal University of Parana State and specialized in Social Entrepreneurship at INSEAD (France). Alessandra completed her first Master’s in Social Development Practice (MSc) at The Bartlett Development Planning Unit, University College London (UK), and her second Master’s in Management Sciences (MRes) from ESADE, where she is currently pursuing a PhD.
Before moving to the UK/EU, Alessandra co-founded We.Flow, a social enterprise focused on consulting and training for social impact, where she continues to serve on the Advisory Board. We.Flow is based in Brazil, her home country.
At Fab Lab Barcelona, Alessandra is a researcher involved in several EU-funded projects, including Distributed Design Platform, Make Works, Pop-Machina, Reflow, FoodSHIFT, and FOSTER.
Noel Criado is an economist and consultant specialising in business development and strategic relations. He studied at the University of Barcelona (Spain) and the University of Maastricht (The Netherlands). Since 2005, he has helped educational institutions develop strategic partnerships and monetize knowledge through applied innovation processes.
Previously, Noel served as Head of Marketing and Communication, and Head of Corporate and Institutional Relations at Elisava. He also held roles in multinational companies, including Product Manager at Esselte and Market Research Analyst at Naturgy Energy Group.
Chiara Dall’Olio is an Italian designer based in Barcelona. Architect and urban planner by training, she is currently the academic coordinator of the Master in Design for Emergent Futures and part of the Fab Academy global coordination team at Fab Lab Barcelona. She holds a Bachelor of Architecture from the University of Ferrara, Italy. Master in City and Technology degree for IaaC, Barcelona, and Master in Urban and Territorial Planning for UPM, Madrid. Chiara has professional experience as an urban planner on several scales, from regional planning to small urban interventions. She applies the culture of planning to different fields: design, education, and research.
Julia Leirado is an architect based in Barcelona with a focus on educational innovation and how new technologies and digital fabrication tools can enhance traditional curricula and improve the learning experience. She holds a Graduate Diploma in Architecture from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (ETSAB), a Master’s in Project Management from EAE, and a Fab Academy diploma in digital fabrication from the Fab Lab Network.
Josep Martí Elias is an Industrial Engineer from Barcelona. He began his career as a BI consultant before shifting paths and graduating from Fab Academy in 2019. Since then, Josep has taught digital fabrication, design, and electronics at the Fab Lab, contributing to the Future Learning Unit by teaching in Fab Academy, Fabricademy, and the Master in Design for Emergent Futures.
He recently started his research journey in Erasmus+ projects. Josep holds a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology Engineering and a Master’s in Industrial Engineering, specialising in Automatic Control, both from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC), as well as a Fab Academy diploma. He has a deep interest in Maker culture and is always eager to learn and create new things.
Marion Real is a systemic design researcher exploring co-creation processes in the territorial transformations toward circular economies and cosmopolitan localism. At Fab Lab Barcelona, she works at the crossroads of productive cities and material & textiles research areas in various projects touching circular design such as Siscode, Remix el Barrio, Score, Shemakes and Reservist.
Óscar González is an Industrial Engineer based in Barcelona with expertise in data analysis, testing and calibration through his experience in automotive and sensor development. Óscar is the Sense Making Lead at Fab Lab Barcelona team doing research and development within the Smart Citizen project and is an instructor at the Fabacademy programme.
Jessica Guy (They/ Them) is a designer and action researcher. Jessica’s work focuses on exploring participatory practices, community engagement and capacity-building activities in European research projects on a global and local scale. Jessica holds a Master degree in Design for Emergent Futures organised by the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia and Elisava Barcelona School of Design and Engineering, in collaboration with the Fab Lab Barcelona and Fab Academy. In the past, Jessica successfully graduated as an Industrial Designer (BA) at the Munich University for Applied Sciences and participated in the acceleration programme X-Futures by Fab Lab Barcelona. At Fab Lab Barcelona, Jessica is leading the global activities of the Creative Europe project Distributed Design Platform and co-leading the Erasmus+ Project Makeademy educational programme. Furthermore, they are the Make Works worldwide coordinator and lead of Make Works Catalonia. Jessica has contributed as a researcher to the European-funded projects Pop-Machina, CENTRINNO and REFLOW.
Olga is a visual artist and a craft-maker working towards education and local community development. She is mostly interested in supporting the socially conscious initiatives between tradition and innovation.
Petra is a Slovak designer with a background in architecture, exploring the boundaries of material innovation, digital fabrication and textiles. Currently, she is working as a Fabricademy Local Instructor and Researcher between Beta Biolab and several European projects.
Petra holds a Master’s degree in Arts and Architecture at the Academy of Arts Architecture and Design in Prague. After her architectural studies, she graduated from Fabricademy – Textile and Technology Academy in Fab Lab Barcelona IAAC. During her studies, she was part of Shemakes.eu European project as an Ambassador between Fab Lab Barcelona and TextileLab Iceland working on the Lab to Lab project – Rethinking Wool. Moreover, her Fabricademy final project was awarded the Young Scientist Award 2022 at the Fiber Global Congress in Dornbirn for the most innovative use of bio-based fibers. Currently, she is still working on the application of protein fibers under the scope of new technologies and biobased materials.
Milena Juarez is a Brazilian sanitary and environmental engineer with a Master’s degree in Interdisciplinary Studies in Environmental, Economic and Social Sustainability and a specialisation in Urban and Industrial Ecology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. With extensive research experience, Milena has actively participated in several interdisciplinary projects in circular economy, resilient cities, co-creation and sustainable food. At Fab Lab Barcelona, she currently coordinates the local pilot of the CENTRINNO project. She has been involved as an action researcher in REFLOW, SISCODE, FoodShift, and European-funded projects. As a community engagement lead at Fab Lab Barcelona, Milena supports local activities at Fab City Hub Barcelona, a distributed hub, to co-design strategies for a more circular, productive and inclusive city model.
Adai graduated with a superior degree in engraving and stamping techniques at Llotja School of Art and Design in Barcelona. After graduation, he became interested in 3D printing, taking him to get involved in Fab Labs until becoming an intern at Fab Lab Barcelona. Shortly after, Adai undertook Fab Academy in 2022 and started working at the lab in different projects like Smartcitizen and as an instructor in academic programs.
Óscar González is an Industrial Engineer based in Barcelona with expertise in data analysis, testing and calibration through his experience in automotive and sensor development. Óscar is the Sense Making lead at Fab Lab Barcelona team doing research and development within the Smart Citizen project and is an instructor at the Fabacademy program.
Daniel Mateos is a creative prototyping expert at Fab Lab Barcelona and he was born in Madrid, Spain.
Daniel started out as a Molecular Biologist. During his PhD he researched the Pbx-Hox transcription factor family, which is a set of genes that control the formation of the right parts in the right position in the embryo of vertebrates like mouse and humans. Surprisingly these genes also exist (and do the same thing!) in insects such as the fruit fly.
This interest in how form is encoded in the genetic sequence of animals led to an exploration of computers and computation, which led to the field of computational biology and morphogenesis, trying to decode the mathematics underneath shape and sequence. That in turn led to Data Science, the application of scientific principles to business.
Daniel then spent a few years as a Data Scientist doing things like analyzing patterns in airline tickets or gambling data, because it’s a much better life than scientific research.
In the background, he was independently learning about electronics, design, and personal fabrication for the fun of it. When a lull in work allowed him to move to Barcelona for Fab Academy, he took it. He has been at Fab Lab Barcelona ever since.
Julia is a Design Researcher with a background in Interior Design and experience in Design Consultancy in the field of communication and education. Guided by a planet-centric approach, she builds systems, designs, and narratives that aim to foster resilience and connection across disciplines, species, and environments. Her interest lies in researching how technology and societal change shape these connections through futures thinking and knowledge transfer.
Rebecca Anne Peters is a researcher and artist currently working with the Sense Making team at Fab Lab Barcelona. In 2021 she received her doctorate in Humanities from Universitat Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona, writing about technology and the role it plays within collective cultural narratives. She completed an MA in Psychosocial Studies at Birkbeck, University of London as well as an MFA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths, University of London. With a background spanning cultural studies, psychology, art, and technology, her interdisciplinary vantage point gives her a unique perspective on open source ideologies and competing models, as well as their impact on technology and society.
Sally is a multi-disciplinary professional whose background includes biology; ecological economics; teaching, marketing, communications and events both in the USA and Spain. She uses her diverse background and a transecofeminist perspective to support the creation of a just present based on citizen-centred societies and economies that produce locally and connect globally, particularly around sustainable food systems and social & environmental justice. She is passionate about making information accessible to people of all backgrounds and equipping citizens with the tools to participate in creating the world around them. Currently, Sally is an action researcher at Fab Lab Barcelona. Most recently, she was project manager for the first phase of Food Tech 3.0, one of nine Accelerator Labs for the H2020 EU project FoodSHIFT 2030. The Accelerator Lab promotes a new generation of food technology that is open, equitable, sustainable and citizen-centred. Her past work includes researching food deserts, creating multi-actor local food dialogues, supporting school garden activities, and assessing the holistic sustainability of rooftop garden spaces.
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