Over the past year I’ve written about a number of maker spaces that are cropping up around the world to help provide the masses with access to cutting edge tools and equipment.

We’ve seen the likes of TechShop and Genspace emerge in manufacturing and biotech respectively, whilst communities from Quirky to Marblar have emerged to allow organizations to tap into these communities of ‘outsiders’.

Fab Labs are a similar concept, and whereas the growth of TechShop et al has been rather modest, Fab Labs are rapidly emerging throughout the world, with the latest opening its doors in London last autumn.

The concept began life as the “Centre for Bits and Atoms” at MIT, and from that early beginning has seen a host of Fab Labs pop up in nearly every continent on Earth.

As with Tech Shop et al, the labs come with a raft of cutting edge equipment that local maker communities can tap into.  They are also providing, however, the community of expertise that local businesses can tap into.

If they wish to produce a prototype around a particular idea, for instance, they can turn to Fab Lab to quickly turnaround a product and get experimenting.

The London branch of Fab Lab has teamed up with the RSA, who are heavily involved in the circular economy as part of their Great Recovery Project, which is looking to prompt a rethink in how we design and manufacture.

“Anyone living and working in central London who wants to learn new skills — from 3D technology to fixing their broken printer for longer use — can drop into the Hub and work with our technicians,” the RSA said at the launch of Fab Lab. “We want to unlock hidden potential through the application of these digital technologies, hardware design, traditional fabrication principles, and sustainable design practices.”

Sparking an interest

Arguably the nicest aspect of the Fab Lab is the work they do to inspire generations of youngsters about the wonderful world of design and manufacturing.

There are weekly classes on offer at the Lab, as well as sessions run to empower teachers to take newfound knowledge back into the classroom with them.

Whilst each Lab operates largely as an individual entity, with a global community of makers and hackers, there is an inevitable opportunity to cross-fertilize ideas and share thoughts.  This is supported by the open source culture of the Labs.

You can see in the TED talk below Neil Gershenfield talk about the birth of Fab Labs back in 2007.

Since then, of course, the maker movement has come an awfully long way, and we’ve seen TechShop forge strong relationships with the likes of Ford, Quirky team up with GE and Marblar build strong links with Samsung.

I sense that the success of Fab Labs will rest with their ability to commercialize the enthusiasm and expertise of the community they gather at the London office.

Speaking to co-founder Tony Fish today, I have every confidence that they’ll do just that.