Fab Academy is open to engineers, architects, designers, and makers from all backgrounds, providing the tools to turn ideas into prototypes. Welcoming professionals and creatives alike, the programme fosters hands-on experimentation and innovation. No strict academic requirements—just curiosity, creativity, and a passion for making.
Postgraduate in Digital Fabrication – Fab Academy BCN
From Zero to Maker: A Hands-On Crash Course to Master Digital Fabrication
Why Postgraduate in Digital Fabrication – Fab Academy BCN
For over a decade, Fab Lab Barcelona has been a global benchmark for the Fab Academy experience, attracting students from around the world. Led by Santi Fuentemilla and a team of experts in digital fabrication, robotics, and materials, the programme offers hands-on learning in a professional lab environment. Students also collaborate with IAAC’s Master of Design for Emergent Futures, expanding their professional network. Fab Academy alumni have gone on to lead Fab Labs, launch design studios, and drive innovation in social and entrepreneurial fields.
16
Editions of the Master Programme
137
Graduated students and counting
45
Nationalities. Multicultural environment
Programme Structure
Formats
Fab Academy BCN
45 ECTS
Fab Academy combines online and offline learning in a “distributed education” model. Students engage at both global and local levels. Through the Global Campus, over 250 students across more than 50 nodes worldwide connect each year. Every Wednesday, they participate in Global Lectures with Professor Neil Gershenfeld, who introduces the weekly assignment. Before each lecture, a review session fosters interaction within the global community. In addition to these sessions, students attend local classes and hands-on practices in our Fab Lab.
From January to March, students build on their knowledge to create a sophisticated personal project. This phase emphasises in-depth research and critical thinking to design innovative, sustainable, and equitable systems for the modern world, pushing the future of textiles forward.
Seminaris
- Digital Essentials (Tools), introduces students to core platforms like Computer-Aided Design, Computer-Controlled Cutting (Design & CAM), Electronic Production, 3D Scanning and Printing, and Computer-Controlled Machining.
- Fabrication & Production (Processes) covers essential techniques such as Electronic Design, Molding and Casting, Mechanical Design, Embedded Programming, and working with Input and Output Devices.
- Interactions & Communications (Protocols) focuses on systems integration with courses like Networking and Communications, Interface & Application Programming, and Embedded Programming to ensure efficient communication between hardware and software.
Infrastructure & Scales (Strategies) teaches students how to scale projects effectively, covering Applications and Implications, Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income, and Project Development (Final Thesis).
Personal Project Development
The last phase of the program capitalises on all the learning acquired to develop a mature personal project. Participants focus on individual in-depth applied project research, employing critical thinking, and hard and soft skills for the development of innovative solutions that explore and implement more viable, sustainable, and fair alternative systems of today.
Technical Skills
The programme provides hands-on training in digital manufacturing through 20 intensive weekly seminars. Students develop skills in computer-controlled cutting, electronics, 3D scanning and printing, CNC machining, embedded programming, moulding and casting, and mechanical design. Alongside global lectures, they receive dedicated project support and access to Fab Lab Barcelona’s workshop and fabrication tools, ensuring a dynamic, practice-based learning experience.
Personal Project Development
The last phase of the program capitalises on all the learning acquired to develop a mature personal project. Participants focus on individual in-depth applied project research, employing critical thinking, and hard and soft skills for the development of innovative solutions that explore and implement more viable, sustainable, and fair alternative systems of today.
Student profile
Career Paths
Fab Academy alumni have leveraged their skills to take on leadership roles within the global Fab Lab network, launch their design studios, and become entrepreneurs in innovation and social design. This expertise equips them to join innovation teams that require fast prototyping and the development of creative solutions for products and services. Beyond technical proficiency, graduates gain the ability to critically evaluate design and fabrication processes, while cultivating the drive for continuous, independent learning and the exploration of new approaches.
Directors & Coordinators
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).
Santiago Fuentemilla
FLB Future Learning Lead (he/him)
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.
Luciana Asinari
FLB Educational Programs Lead (she/her)
Santiago Fuentemilla
FLB Future Learning Lead (he/him)
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).
Luciana Asinari
FLB Educational Programs Lead (she/her)
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.
Faculty Name
Position
Josep Martí Elias
Fabrication Expert (he/him)
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.
Daniel Mateos San Martín
Julia Leirado
FLB Future Learning Expert (she/her)
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.
Petra Garajová
Materials and Textiles Expert
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.
Adai Suriñach
Partners
“If you want to do the Fab Academy, it’s more like an introductory course to various subjects. It’s like a little lamp that brightens small pockets of knowledge. You don’t know everything or become a professional by the end of it, but you know what to search for and what you can learn. It gives you a little scratch of the surface, and then you can dig deep into it.”
Benjamin Scott, Fab Academy Alumni 2019-20
Latest news – Student life
The Institute
IAAC is an innovative centre dedicated to prototyping the future. We don’t see the future as a distant horizon awaiting us. We understand the present as a moment to influence what comes next. The future is our daily inspiration, our driving force, and our biggest commitment: our minds live in the cities, the technology and the problems of the future. We stand at the intersection of imagination and reality, where every prototype holds the potential to shape the next era of habitat. We are architects of change.
Fee & Scholarships
Review important information regarding our programme fees, average cost of living in Barcelona and scholarships opportunities available for eligible applicants.
Admissions
Our admissions page provides information on everything you need to know about joining IAAC, from programme requirements and the application process to admissions events, information for international students and pre-course opportunities. Dive in to take the first step toward joining IAAC’s innovative community!
Contact & Information
From programme consideration, to the application process, to moving to Barcelona, We are here to help! Ask us!
