Fab Labs across the globe

A global network of over 150 Fab Labs now exists, connecting people, communities and businesses across the world and enabling them to collaborate, problem solve and brainstorm ideas, click.

Shepherds in Norway have used their Fab Lab to create a system for tracking sheep using their mobile phones, while in Ghana, people have made an innovative truck refrigeration system powered by the vehicle's own exhaust gases.

In Afghanistan, people are fashioning customised 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.

Watch a video with Professor Gershenfeld explaining the concept of Fab Labs and what they bring to the world.

In the UK

The first Fab Lab to be set up in the UK was in Manchester in 2010. This was followed by Fab Lab Airedale in Keighley (West Yorkshire) in 2011.

A number of other Fab Labs are being developed across the UK, supported by the Fab Foundation, an initiative led by The Manufacturing Institute to grow the Fab Lab concept. Find out more about the Fab Foundation.