Presentation "Fab Lab Life Cycle & Business Models"; Pieter van der Hijden; Seminar “Open Innovation Economy”; R2B - Research to Business 2016; 11th International Exhibition of Industrial Research and Innovation; BolognaFiere | June 9th – 10th 2016

1. Fab Lab Life Cycle
and
Business Models
Pieter van der Hijden msc
http://sofos.nl – info@sofos.nl
Seminar “Open Innovation Economy”
R2B - Research to Business 2016
11th International Exhibition of Industrial
Research and Innovation
BolognaFiere | June 9th – 10th 2016
Sofos Consultancy
Polderweg 196,
1093KP Amsterdam,
The Netherlands
www.sofos.nl – info@sofos.nl
Fab Lab Suriname
Prof. Kernkampweg 37
Paramaribo, Suriname
http://fablab.sr -
info@fablab.sr
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons
Attribution 4.0 International
License.

2. Agenda
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 Introduction
 Fab Lab Life Cycle
 Business Models

3. Introduction
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Concept and photo from Fab Lab Vestmannaeyjar , Iceland
Fab Lab (FABrication LABoratory) concept developed by
Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits and Atoms (CBA)
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
June 2016:
673 Fab Labs
in 87 countries
Global organization: Fab Charter, Fab Academy, Fab Annual Conference

4. Introduction
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FAB CHARTER (Draft, October 2012)
What is a Fab Lab? - Fab Labs are a global network of local
labs, enabling invention by providing access for individuals to
tools for digital fabrication.
What's in a Fab Lab? - Fab Labs share an evolving inventory of
core capabilities to make (almost) anything, allowing people
and projects to be shared.
What does the Fab Lab network provide? - Operational,
educational, technical, financial, and logistical assistance
beyond what's available within one lab.
Who can use a Fab Lab? - Fab Labs are available as a
community resource, offering open access for individuals as
well as scheduled access for programs.
What are your responsibilities?
 Safety: not hurting people or machines;
 Operations: assisting with cleaning, maintaining, and
improving the lab;
 Knowledge: contributing to documentation and
instruction.
Who owns Fab Lab inventions? - Designs and processes
developed in Fab Labs can be protected and sold however an
inventor chooses, but should remain available for individuals to
use and learn from.
How can businesses use a Fab Lab? - Commercial activities can
be prototyped and incubated in a Fab Lab, but they must not
conflict with other uses, they should grow beyond rather than
within the lab, and they are expected to benefit the inventors,
labs, and networks that contribute to their success.

5. Conception
Early
childhood
Coming to
age
Fostering
new
businesses
Surviving
Developing 1st year 2nd year 3rd year 4th year ...
Fab Lab
Life Cycle
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(Source: Infosyncratic.nl; http://bit.ly/whitehousefab)

6. Conception
How to start, paperwork,
funding, and all issues until
the lab goes live
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 Create bottom-up
ownership
 Introduce
convenient project
management
 Develop business
model
Fab Lab Kamakura, Japan

7. Early childhood
Teething problems,
challenges during the first
year
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 Improve daily
operations
 Manage your risks
 Build a learning
organization
Picture: Safety measures in Fab Lab Tulsa;
source: newson6.com (http://bit.ly/Wbs7OL)
Example of a weekly Fab Lab schedule
with a mix of activities

8. Coming to age
Management issues,
professional PR and
advocacy, service
development
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 Develop your
services
 Develop your staff
 Develop your
organization

9. Fostering new
businesses
Supporting the creation of
new products, processes &
organizations
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 Find your position in
the "innovation
market"
 Learn from other
Fab Labs good
practices
 Count your
blessings
Training course in Fab Lab Paramaribo

10. Surviving
Funding, business model,
good practices,
community building
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 Prepare multi-
annual plan
 Organize structural
funding
 Think globally, act
locally
Woelab, Lomé, Togo, 3D-printer based on
recycled PC-chassis (http://www.woelabo.com/)
[A]
Category
[B]
Year 0 -
actual
situation
[C]
Year 1 -
next
year
[D]
Year 2
[E]
Year
3-5
[F]
Midterm
ambition
Target
groups
Services
Activities
Resources
Revenue
streams
Costs

11. Business models
 Vision
 Mission
 Some suggestions
 Business model canvas
 Success factors
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12. Vision
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Source: Maker Impact Summit, 2013
 Shared vision on
what is going on in
the world

13. Mission
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 What do
we want to
contribute?
“Some representative
players in the Maker
ecosystem. Roles and
players are constantly
evolving.”
Maker Impact Summit
2013

14. Some suggestions
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Source: Maker Impact Summit, 2013

15. Business model canvas
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CC Business Model Foundry AG – Strategyzer.com

16. Success factors
 Start bottom-up
 Align with vision and mission
 Balance revenues and costs right from the
start
 Set-up:
 Infrastructure management
 Knowledge management
 Service management
 People management
 Stimulate client development from general
public  tinkerer  technopreneur
 Learn by doing
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17. References
 Business model generation; Alexander Osterwalder et al.; self-
published; 2009; available in various languages;
http://www.businessmodelgeneration.com; preview 72 pages:
http://bit.ly/previewbmg
 Hub in a box; workshop to crowdsource business models for
sustainable hubs; http://wiki.movement.open.co/hubinabox/
 Impact of the maker movement; Developed by Deloitte Center for
the Edge and Maker Media from the Maker Impact Summit Dec.
2013; Makermedia and Deloitte, 2014; http://bit.ly/1vt81im
 Sustainable Fab Labs; presentation; John Boeck and Peter Troxler;
FAB7, Lima, Peru, 2011; http://bit.ly/1oTQY1q
 The Fab Lab Life Cycle; report of the Fab10 Workshops (Report);
Van der Hijden, Pieter (Fab Lab Paramaribo & Sofos Consultancy) &
Juarez, Beno (Fab Lab Lima) et al.; FAB10 International Fab Lab
Conference, Barcelona, Spain, July 2014;
http://bit.ly/fablablifecycle
 Think like an innovator; Navaz Karim (ed.); Vigyam Ashram & Fab
Lab, India; http://bit.ly/thinklikeaninnovator
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18. Thank you for your attention!
18
Pieter van der Hijden, Sofos Consultancy – 2016 –
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License.
http://sofos.nl
Pieter van der Hijden
pvdh@sofos.nl