Fab Lab Zagreb (FLZ) is one of the cases that we have explored to understand how maker initiatives are organized, how makers improve their skills and how they interact with each other and finally, which values are created by making.

Fab Lab Zagreb is the first Fab Lab that was established in Croatia. It is registered as an NGO and maintains close ties with the Faculty of Architecture at Zagreb University, where it is currently located. Fab Lab Zagreb’s main mission is to promote digital fabrication to a general public in cooperation with similar organizations on local level and internationally.

Fab Lab Zagreb is strongly connected to its current president and manager, Roberto Vdović, who also teaches at the Faculty of Architecture University of Zagreb. Being pioneers in 3D desktop printing in Croatia, Roberto and two colleagues established the first Fab Lab in Croatia in 2013 and registered it according to the Fab Lab charter.

Fab Lab Zagreb follows three core missions:

The first one is taking a leading role in educational aspect connected to the whole maker and DIY movement ([email protected]): how to engage general population to use new digital fabrication technologies to improve STEAM skills, by connecting different education levels, and experiences.

The second mission is highly relevant for the local community (Give-a-hand):  to be inspired by the local community problems and issues and find solutions using new technology, DIY (Do it yourself), DIWO (Do It With Others), find individual solutions and solutions for the community. Thus, Fab Lab Zagreb has a strong commitment to solving a wide range of social and other needs and moving towards contributing to meeting wider societal challenges in these areas. It addresses and involves children, unemployed people, people with disabilities, artists and students.

The third mission is supporting entrepreneurship (Do Local Go Global): it is related to the previous mission. If locally inspired solutions become interesting for global markets, they can be developed in the maker space (such as MakerBuino).

In addition, FLZ it is strictly following an open source ethos and promoting openness as part of their educational message. It serves as an entry space for their first experiences with digital fabrication. Fab Lab Zagreb puts a focus on interdisciplinarity in their activities and events, again, with a special focus on achieving educational goals and social goals.

For more detailed information please have a look at our report and the FLZ website (in Croatian).

Happylab is one of “our” cases that we have explored to understand how maker initiatives are organized, how makers improve their skills and how they interact with each other and finally, which values are created by making.

Happylab has around 2,000 members in Vienna (there are two more labs, in Salzburg and in Berlin) and is managed by two CEOs, additionally it is supported by 5 staff members, i.e. lab manager, technical support, PR and office support. It is a small-medium enterprise whose sustainability is enabled by membership fees (among other sources of income). The machines, Happylab hosts, are the following: lasercutter, CNC Milling machine, 3D Printer, and Vinylcutter.

One of the core missions of Happylab is to be accessible to the widest segments of population and does thus follow principles of empowerment and inclusion. Further, efforts are taken to reach out to pupils at different educational levels.

Accessibility is seen from a financial perspective as well as from a usability perspective. Financially the hurdle to use Happylab is rather low although only those who are paying members are allowed to use the infrastructure. The membership fee however is affordable for most people (from 9 to 49 Euro per month). From the usability point of view the mangers have tried to make the work flows as easy as possible to lower the hurdles for people without any technological background.

All the machines are professional machines which work more reliably and allow for a good user experience.

Members of Happylab are not requested to respect a comprising code of conduct when using the infrastructure but there are a few rules that are taken seriously. For instance, membership cards are personal and it is strictly forbidden to pass it to another person. This way, Happylab has control over whether a person is allowed to use a certain machine or not (depending on whether he or she has completed the free training for that particular machine in order to protect the machine from damage).

The Happylab members learn and acquire skills, necessary to operate the machines, trough free trainings and additional specific courses (to pay) offered by Happylab formally and more informally in exchange with other members. Courses comprise trainings that are dedicated to children between 10 and 15 years, the Fab Lab Bootcamp that is a week of training on digital design and fabrication, Fab Academy that lasts for half a year, and the Ideas2Product course that aims at supporting entrepreneurs from prototyping to a product on the market.

Happylab creates economic value in the region of Vienna in the sense that it is a nutshell for start-up entrepreneurs and quite some enterprises have been born in Happylab or due to the use of Happylab. Happylab is set up in a way that is ideal for start-ups. Without any risk they can experiment around with professional machines, which would certainly exceed the financial capability of a young start-up.

Happylab creates social value among its members. Users of the lab appreciate the networking aspect that they feel among likeminded people who share similar interests. Many projects that have been realised in Happylab, besides its commercial aspect, bear social value.

For more detailed information please have a look at our report and the Happylab website www.happylab.at