A fab manager training workshop was held on September 4-9 in France under the Fablab Project. The workshop participants visited three lovely French cities – Lyon, Saint-Étienne and Le Puy-en-Velay with established and successfully operating fablabs, creative spaces, coworking zones, creative technology classrooms and other generally available infrastructure supporting entrepreneurship, innovative thinking and engineering creativity.
The workshop was attended by 19 representatives from the project partner organizations from the UK, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Belgium, France, Belarus and Ukraine. In the course of the workshop, the participants visited and had an opportunity to speak with managers of both private and public fablabs and creative technology hubs, learn about typical fablab equipment, space arrangement methods and interior design concepts, business models and PR strategies, challenges and potential solutions.
The workshop began with a visit to Youfactory fablab, a part of the Pôle Pixel creativity cluster situated near Lyon downtown in a former factory building.
The fablab introduction began with a surprising fact: they consume about 300 kg of coffee a year there! Thus, we learnt the three key rules of that fablab:
1. Free coffee
2. Free wi-fi
3. First names only,
and one unspoken rule: the coffee maker is the main and indispensable piece of equipment in the fablab. We learnt that from Ms. Isabelle Laurent, the Youfactory President and Co-founder. But, first things first.
Youfactory was developed as a commercial project personally initiated by Isabelle and her son who is in charge of the fablab business organization in general. Now, the fablab employs two more young creative engineers.
In general, Youfactory fablab occupies two floors with a total floor area of 600 sqm in a former factory building; it is equipped with basic prototyping and production equipment: a laser cutter, a milling machine, a vacuum forming machine, a sewing machine, an embroidery machine, electrical equipment, etc. The second floor accommodates a coworking zone, office and exhibition equipment, as well as several 3D printers. Since Youfactory fablab is a private commercial organization, the fablab equipment and services are available upon subscription only. The fablab also has a loyalty program offering discounts for regular customers who purchase long-term subscriptions. The loyalty program also applies to dealing with corporate clients, when large companies purchase centralize subscriptions for their design staff to improve their engineering creativity and creative thinking.
Isabelle told us many more fascinating and informative facts from the fablab daily life. An interview with Isabelle will soon appear in our Project in Focus section.
Fablabs are not just about business and science; fablabs are primarily about creative thinking. We could see it at first hand during our visit to LabLab laboratory – a unique fablab for those who work in the field of visual digital art. LabLab is a tiny white room, the "White Box", outfitted with powerful audio/visual equipment, which is used as a digital art testing ground prior to mass release. The project aims to integrate the efforts of artists and engineers who are engaged in digital art research. The prospective customers are local authorities, concert halls, event agencies. Ms. Doreen Djicko, the Production Unit Manager, made a presentation of the laboratory and described the lab's prospective digital art projects enjoying a wide public reception both in France and the EU in general. A good example is a social project – an illuminated set of 'talking' human figures disclosing such topical social issues as migration and refugee problems. The project implementing company has made the installations in a number of European cities, and it has recently received an order from a group of EU Commissioners to make an installation in Brussels.
The first day of the workshop was concluded with a presentation of the joint efforts of the Central School of Lyon and Lyon Business School on developing innovations and future entrepreneurship in the modern digital environment. As it turns out, statistics show that the rapid development of information technology may irretrievably eliminate up to 47% of the current specialties in near future, therefore, the own-business concept and the future entrepreneur portrait are undergoing irreversible changes today. Here is a 21st century example: a startup forecasts consumer preferences for packaging design and beauty industry by making big-data analyses of Facebook likes based on big data. The startup customers are large companies and globally renowned corporations.
The next day we found ourselves in the charming French town of Le Puy-en-Velay, where a Michelin engineer Ms. Anna Goinvic told us about the experience of cooperation of the Le Puy-en-Velay lyceum and Michelin Company in the field of engineering creativity development and raising the prestige of engineering specialties among young people. Several training models (e-bike, drift trike, solar panels, Curiosity Mars rover, etc.) built on the basis of problem-based learning and integration of education of adolescents, students and adults, were exhibited. For instance, the Curiosity Mars rover model was conceptualized and ultimately assembled by teenagers – the lyceum students; the 3D design was developed by the local university undergraduate students, and parts were made within an adult retraining program.
A special gratitude is owned to Pierre Caraloggi, the French workshop organizer who made a presentation about classification of fablab in France. In his presentation, Pierre dwelled on fablab organization types (hackerspace, makerspace, techshop) in France and their distinguishing features, target audience, common equipment, popular services and activities. The presentation helped the workshop participants develop a more comprehensive understanding of the classification of French fablab-type organizations.
The training then addressed the educational component of fablab activity, which is mainly focused on problem-based education. It was supported by a presentation of an actual project implemented by agricultural students of a regional university. Under the above project, students designed a comprehensive system for naturally drying and storing cattle forage without enzymes. The project was implemented in the real life, after a regional agricultural enterprise designed and built a farm according to the project design.
Though the workshop was mostly focused on the educational component and experience exchange, it could not do without some advertising. The Fablab Project was highlighted in a local newspaper! And there was a meeting with the city mayor in the evening!
Information technology has made an essential part of our everyday lives. The training could not avoid it, either. Thus, the project team took part in a Skype conference with Mr. Emmanuel Gilloz, the inventor of portable 3D printers, manager of ENSGSI fablab and founder of Nancy Makerspace Nybi.cc, who explained how his experience of working in a fablab helped him find his 'blue ocean' and start his own successful business producing portable 3D printers.
The last workshop day activities were conducted in the legendary Saint-Étienne, where the project team visited an entire 'creative district' at a former armament factory. The most creative organizations of the city are congregated in the district. It accommodates several universities and business schools, a fablab, coworking zones, miscellaneous workshops, designer studios, startup clubs and startup companies per se that rent space on preferential terms. We visited most entities, though we paid the highest attention to the local fablab, of course.
Openfactory fablab is co-operated by the local university, city administration and a private company; it was established on a private initiative at the abandoned compound of an armament factory, in a facility without water supply and heating. The bulkiest and 'dirtiest' equipment is still kept in that unserviced facility. Electronic devices and 3D printing equipment were moved to another heated room co-located with the University coworking zone, which facilitates integration of the education and technical creativity processes. At present, the fablab operations are financed from the city budget and its own income. In the afternoon, the fablab is open daily and free of charge for everyone. Before noon, it offers its services for a fee for private companies and startups that have to keep the confidentiality of their inventions. Every day, one of 12 volunteers (students, professors, private company staff) stay in Openfactory and provide for the fablab operations. By the way, the fablab furniture was designed by two girls – the founders of a design startup situated nearby on the campus. Recently, the fablab services became highly requested by local residents, large companies, startups and students; therefore, the organizers plan to hire a permanent fab manager to make the work in the fablab even more fascinating!
The agenda and training program in general were concluded by informal discussions over a cup of coffee with local startups, innovating companies, business accelerators during a Design Tech After meeting at the Saint-Étienne Administration. The Fablab Project was an ad hoc guest of the meeting. Thank you for your confidence in us!
And, there was a certificate award ceremony, of course.
We would like to express our highest appreciation to all workshop participants and organizers. The next fab manager training workshop will be held as early as this December in Denmark. See you in Copenhagen
