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Almost Anything
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`Fab Lab-ulous' Opportunity for Almost Anyone to Make Almost Anything
MANCHESTER, England, March 30, 2010-- The UK's first Fab Lab (http://www.fablabmanchester.org) has
opened in Manchester - bringing innovation to the people - in a hi-tech
community mini-factory.
To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/manufacturinginstitute/43206/
Fab Labs give everyone, from young children through to entrepreneurs and
businesses, the capability to bring their ideas and inventions to life.
The first UK `Fab Labbers' have already made a `Sky Baby'
folding travel carry cot; a `Crackit Bat' ultra-light beach cricket bat and
model wind turbines. A group of young carers from the Manchester Young
Inventors group are also developing: a baby's bottle with an inbuilt colour
changing temperature gauge; a multi-purpose DIY tool; and a toothbrush with
an inbuilt MP3 player.
Born from an outreach project by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in inner-city Boston, Fab Labs have exploded around the world. From
urban areas, to the villages of Africa, they are connected by a global video
link network, enabling ideas, designs and knowledge to be shared across
cultures and borders.
The Manufacturing Institute intends its Manchester Fab Lab in East
Manchester's landmark Chips building to be the first of many for the UK. The
Project is supported by the Manchester Innovation Investment Fund,
comprising: The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
(NESTA), the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA), Manchester City Council,
Manchester: Knowledge Capital, and the Commission for the New Economy.
Julie Madigan, Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Institute, said: "Fab
Labs bring together the opportunities and skills to liberate the innovations
of individuals, communities and small businesses. This is a groundbreaking
opportunity to broaden our innovation base and increase crucial invention
skills. It's a proven grass roots approach that will directly benefit the
economy and different parts of the community."
Fab Lab founder Professor Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Center for
Bits and Atoms at MIT, said: "Fab Labs give people the tools they need to
create technology, to be creative and make the stuff that they can't buy in
the shops. Manchester led the first industrial revolution and now it is at
the centre of a new industrial revolution where anyone can make anything,
anywhere using digital manufacturing."
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Manchester has a
proud history of innovation and Fab Lab will be another first, as well as
another ingredient in the regeneration of east Manchester. This imaginative
project has the power to inspire invention and innovation - bringing together
young and old, businesses and individuals, to empower them to create their
own products."
Shepherds in Norway have used their Fab Lab to create mobile phones to
track sheep. In Afghanistan `Fab Labbers' are creating a local telecoms
infrastructure and prosthetic limbs, while in South Africa a government and
business backed project is creating simple internet connected computers that
hook up to televisions and cost just ten dollars each.
The Manchester Fab Lab is free to non-commercial users. Businesses and
inventors can opt to protect their product development ideas by paying to use
the service. It will reverse the top down approach to technological
advancement by empowering everyone to invent.
`Fab Labbers' can use advanced digital and manufacturing technology to
make products out of wood, acrylic, composite moulds, silicon, cardboard,
sheet aluminium, plastics, copper foil and vinyl. There are waxing, chemical
moulding, milling and routing, laser cutting, electronics, textiles,
embroidery, vinyl cutting and 3D scanning and printing facilities.
Complete novices can use the centre and receive help in developing their
own ideas, or in building some of the products made at other Fab Labs using
ready-made instructions.
Source: The Manufacturing Institute
Ed Moss, ed.moss@manufacturinginstitute.co.uk, +44-(0)7530-452529
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Profile: Tech
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Almost Anything
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Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
`Fab Lab-ulous' Opportunity for Almost Anyone to Make Almost Anything
MANCHESTER, England, March 30, 2010-- The UK's first Fab Lab (http://www.fablabmanchester.org) has
opened in Manchester - bringing innovation to the people - in a hi-tech
community mini-factory.
To view the Multimedia News Release, please click:
http://multivu.prnewswire.com/mnr/manufacturinginstitute/43206/
Fab Labs give everyone, from young children through to entrepreneurs and
businesses, the capability to bring their ideas and inventions to life.
The first UK `Fab Labbers' have already made a `Sky Baby'
folding travel carry cot; a `Crackit Bat' ultra-light beach cricket bat and
model wind turbines. A group of young carers from the Manchester Young
Inventors group are also developing: a baby's bottle with an inbuilt colour
changing temperature gauge; a multi-purpose DIY tool; and a toothbrush with
an inbuilt MP3 player.
Born from an outreach project by Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) in inner-city Boston, Fab Labs have exploded around the world. From
urban areas, to the villages of Africa, they are connected by a global video
link network, enabling ideas, designs and knowledge to be shared across
cultures and borders.
The Manufacturing Institute intends its Manchester Fab Lab in East
Manchester's landmark Chips building to be the first of many for the UK. The
Project is supported by the Manchester Innovation Investment Fund,
comprising: The National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts
(NESTA), the Northwest Development Agency (NWDA), Manchester City Council,
Manchester: Knowledge Capital, and the Commission for the New Economy.
Julie Madigan, Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Institute, said: "Fab
Labs bring together the opportunities and skills to liberate the innovations
of individuals, communities and small businesses. This is a groundbreaking
opportunity to broaden our innovation base and increase crucial invention
skills. It's a proven grass roots approach that will directly benefit the
economy and different parts of the community."
Fab Lab founder Professor Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Center for
Bits and Atoms at MIT, said: "Fab Labs give people the tools they need to
create technology, to be creative and make the stuff that they can't buy in
the shops. Manchester led the first industrial revolution and now it is at
the centre of a new industrial revolution where anyone can make anything,
anywhere using digital manufacturing."
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council, said: "Manchester has a
proud history of innovation and Fab Lab will be another first, as well as
another ingredient in the regeneration of east Manchester. This imaginative
project has the power to inspire invention and innovation - bringing together
young and old, businesses and individuals, to empower them to create their
own products."
Shepherds in Norway have used their Fab Lab to create mobile phones to
track sheep. In Afghanistan `Fab Labbers' are creating a local telecoms
infrastructure and prosthetic limbs, while in South Africa a government and
business backed project is creating simple internet connected computers that
hook up to televisions and cost just ten dollars each.
The Manchester Fab Lab is free to non-commercial users. Businesses and
inventors can opt to protect their product development ideas by paying to use
the service. It will reverse the top down approach to technological
advancement by empowering everyone to invent.
`Fab Labbers' can use advanced digital and manufacturing technology to
make products out of wood, acrylic, composite moulds, silicon, cardboard,
sheet aluminium, plastics, copper foil and vinyl. There are waxing, chemical
moulding, milling and routing, laser cutting, electronics, textiles,
embroidery, vinyl cutting and 3D scanning and printing facilities.
Complete novices can use the centre and receive help in developing their
own ideas, or in building some of the products made at other Fab Labs using
ready-made instructions.
Source: The Manufacturing Institute
Ed Moss, ed.moss@manufacturinginstitute.co.uk, +44-(0)7530-452529
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Profile: Tech
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