Haakon Karlsen Jr on FabLab at Lift France 10

Haakon Karlsen Jr runs the 5-year-old MIT FabLab in Lyngen, up North in the Norwegian Alps. He also chairs the Fab Foundation, which co-ordinates the international network of Fab Labs.

“Few people tend to visit rural northern Norway from other parts of the world. Thanks to the Fablab network, we have been able to welcome the world's foremost and most imaginative experts, entrepreneurs and inventors

in Lyngen, allowing us to innovate in education, research, development and commercialization. But we also bring something that we have to the network: A sense of welcoming, of respect, and tolerance."

"In the Fab Foundation, we have struggled with the definition of "'What is a Fab Lab' for some time, and come up with this: Fab Labs are a global network of people who want to cooperate. The machines that equip them are tools to make this happen. In the beginning, a Fab Lab was a place for rapid prototyping. But more and more, Fab Labs turn into community centers where people come with all sorts of questions, projects and desires.

"All successful Fab Labs originate from, or become, a grassroots movement. You plant the seeds, but you're never sure what will grow. Theses roots need to be connected: Fab Labs must not be strangers in their own communities - even in their architecture. They need to be integrated in the local community. Then people can come in and tell about what they need where they live. The setting up of a Fab Lab needs a strategy on how to involve the community.

"The second most important thing is people: Who runs the Lab? You need people who burn for the idea, for this mix of local and global cooperation.

The 3rd success factor is, How to make the FabLab economically sustainable in a short period? There are solutions, from small prototyping to bigger projects, such as engineering other labs, organizing workshops... And the network can help.”

At Lift France 10, Haakon will share with us his experience with Fab Labs from around the world, what makes them successful (or not), what it takes to become a Fab Lab, and what comes out of them.