Making Ideas at Scientific Fabrication Laboratories

Creativity, together with the making of ideas into fruition, is essential for progress. Today the evolution from an idea to its application can be facilitated by the implementation of Fabrication Laboratories, or FabLabs, having affordable digital tools for prototyping. FabLabs aiming at scientific research and invention are now starting to be established inside Universities and Research Centers. We review the setting up of the ICTP Scientific FabLab in Trieste, Italy and propose to replicate this class of multi-purpose workplaces within academia as a support for science, education and development world-wide. 1. Overview Creativity and the conception of new thoughts, together with the action of bringing these ideas to reality, is essential for human growth and development. It is an ability that we all have and that we can cultivate with practice [1]. Furthermore, “Scientific thought, and its creation, is the common and shared heritage of mankind” –as quoted by Prof. A Salam, during the 1979 Nobel Prize in Physics' ceremony [2]. Creative thinking needs to be nurtured and encouraged at all ages. The evolution from a creative expression to innovative applications for the benefit of the society, can today be facilitated by the implementation of small-scale Fabrication Laboratories, or FabLabs, offering (say, a more personal) digital fabrication facilities. Learning happens in an authentic, engaging, personal context in which one goes through a cycle of imagination, design, prototyping, reflection, and iteration as one finds solutions to challenges or bring ideas to life. FabLabs, having affordable digital tools for prototyping [3-5], should start to be established also at Universities and Research Centers. There are two main reasons to encourage these novel initiatives. One is the fact that most of the logistics needed for FabLabs are already present in these places –like safety control and policies, adequate space and facilities, skilled personnel and financial support to run the structure and make the usage as free and open as possible. The second reason is the aim to foster the interaction between academics, students and the society –as an extra, and rich source for the input of new ideas to be developed together with professionals, playing the role of a more enriched FabLab environment for the benefit of all. We briefly review here our experiences with the first year of activities within the Scientific Fabrication Laboratory (SciFabLab) of the ICTP in Trieste, Italy. We propose to replicate this class of multipurpose workplace at Universities and Research Centers in developing countries –which is today feasible because of the unprecedented technological developments and the affordable costs involved. 2. The FabLabs The concept of a FabLab was first imagined at the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA) at the Media Lab