The Fab Foundation Celebrates 15 Years With 15 Community Milestones
The Boston-based nonprofit reports 15 significant achievements in its 15th year of mission-driven work seeking to democratize access to the tools, technology, and knowledge of digital fabrication.
- (1888PressRelease) January 22, 2025 - In 2024, the Fab Foundation celebrated its 15th anniversary. Over the course of the landmark year, the Boston-based nonprofit marked numerous achievements in its mission to democratize access to the tools, technology, and knowledge of digital fabrication. The organization’s impact continues to be felt both at home and abroad, across industry, education, and society.
The Year at a Glance
Fab Lab Deployment
Dedicated to regional capacity-building and growth of the international Fab Lab Network, the Fab Foundation’s deployment team provides hands-on technical and logistical expertise to accelerate the creation of new Fab Labs across the globe.
In 2024, the team deployed five new Fab Labs focused on creating opportunities for their local communities:
- Fab Lab Indoamérica - Universidad Tecnológica | Ambato, Ecuador
- NNPC Fab Lab | Abuja, Nigeria
- Fort Valley State University Fab Lab | Warner Robins, Georgia
- FAMU Chevron STR²EAM Innovation Fab Lab | Tallahassee, Florida
- UNCC Super Fab Lab | Charlotte, North Carolina
Education & Corporate Social Responsibility
Engaging in a variety of community-focused initiatives, the Fab Foundation’s education team seeks to bridge the growing disconnect between technology development and technical education to help develop a skilled, technically literate, and agile workforce who are more equally able to contribute to and benefit from global prosperity.
In 2024, the team advanced community education through five impactful knowledge-sharing programs:
- SCOPES-DF: This community of practice for educators using digital fabrication to teach STEM—made possible by support from GE and Chevron—saw an 80.87% increase in community membership compared to 2023, as well as a surge of new lesson plans and other resources for educators.
- Chevron Fab STEM Fellowship: This global knowledge-exchange program was expanded in 2024 to include four Fellows, who established a professional network of 12 Fab Labs spanning Italy, Japan, Qatar, Suriname, Switzerland, Tunisia, and the US.
- Fab Futures K-12: Launched with funding support from Caterpillar Foundation, this new partnership focuses specifically on professional development for educators using digital fabrication technology. The program was piloted with cohorts in Texas and Australia.
- Fab-in-a-Box: This new project in collaboration with MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, supported by Dassault Systèmes and La Fondation Dassault Systèmes, introduces a low-cost, mobile digital fabrication kit to learning environments in various settings. The past year saw significant progress in curriculum development, product design, and a pilot program.
- Academany: The academy of (almost) anything is a globally distributed campus for high-level technical education. Five new cycles of Academany courses were launched in 2024, covering a range of relevant technical and social impact disciplines.
Community Engagement
Serving as a resource for individuals and organizations using technology in education, economic development, and social enterprise, the Fab Foundation’s community engagement team holds space for members of the global Fab Lab Network to come together to design and activate solutions to shared challenges.
In 2024, the team gathered community members in five strategic venues to share expertise, forge partnerships, and launch future collaborations:
- FAB Month: This first annual celebration of the people, places, and projects of the global Fab Lab Network, held in multiple online sessions throughout the month of April, introduced numerous initiatives with an open invitation for community members to join their colleagues in the exciting work.
- FAB24 Mexico: The 20th annual Fab Lab Conference & Symposium provided a chance for thousands of people throughout the international community to gather in-person in Puebla, Mexico to teach, learn, and strengthen network connections.
- Fab City Challenge Mexico: The third annual Fab City Challenge brought together local and global innovation communities in multiple sites across Mexico to propose meaningful interventions promoting equity and social justice.
- Kendall Square HQ: To increase its community impact at the local scale, the Fab Foundation announced the forthcoming establishment of its global headquarters and flagship Fab Lab in the heart of Kendall Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
- From Making to Meaning-Making: In this first event in a planned series of collaborations between the Fab Foundation and the MIT Museum, Sudebi Thakurata shared how to bring a lens of dignity, fairness, and equity to the interpretation and imagination of design and technology.
The Fab Foundation invites like-minded organizations to become partners in spreading social impact, in 2025 and beyond. To explore opportunities for collaboration, please write to info ( @ ) fabfoundation dot org dot
Download the Fab Foundation’s 2024 Annual Report: https://mcusercontent.com/703cd11616d78536ae5d303eb/files/14e6331a-c2c7-41a1-c696-ec4dd839fb85/Annual_Report_2024_FF1_.03.pdf
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