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Fab Labs (Fabrication Laboratories) are a global network of citizen workshops in digital fabrication and are about the sharing of resources, knowledge and ideas, to learn, create and innovate.

Fab Labs are booming on a global scale. A major movement which began at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) over 10 years ago, these workshops offer the possibility to anyone to build objects of all types, either for themselves or collectively, in the spirit of knowledge sharing and with open access to specialized equipment. A real international community has developed around Fab Labs and there are over 200 of them on all 5 continents today. The potential that stems from these labs for the vitality of our cities is in constant growth and is being explored in multiple sectors : healthcare, creativity, education, entrepreneurship…

Since 2012, Quebec has its first Fab Lab based in Montreal, échoFab, a project developed by Communautique. Other workshops are in development and more and more people dream of a Fab Lab in their neighborhood. The community behind the creation of Fab Labs in Quebec is in full bloom and the question that arises is the following : Why can Fab Labs contribute to the vitality of our living environments and what are the fertile grounds in which we can grow them together?

To actively explore this question, Communautique has initiated an interregional event “Imaginons nos Fab Labs” involving several different actors interested in the project in Montreal, Laval and Longueuil. Communautique uses innovative and participatory approaches through their program “Métropole en résidences”, which have already proven effective in several different contexts. The residence “Imaginons nos Fabs Labs” (Imagine our Fab Labs) is made possible by the collaboration of l’Île du Savoir of the CRÉ de Montréal and Fab Labs Québec.

The program “Métropole en résidences” offers an approach based on citizen co-design and was developed by Communautique’s living lab, the Mandalab, in partnership with perclab and Grisvert, and benefits from financial support from the Secrétariat à la région métropolitaine, from the Conférence régionale des élus (CRÉ) de Montréal and from the Caisse d’économie solidaire Desjardins, who contribute to building a more sustainable Quebec.

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