FabLab and digital manufacturing. Innovative tools for social innovation and value co-creation

Digital manufacturing machines are contributing to the paradigm shift that is determining a new way to design, produce and consume goods. These now happen in a cooperative and/or shared manner allowing the consumer to actively be a part of the process or being him/herself the producer. The aim of this paper is to explore how open production labs such as FabLabs can attract creators and users, boost entrepreneurship and sustainability. We explored the concepts of open production, bottom-up economics and socially sustainable production, identifying which are the key factors for the diffusion and success of FabLabs. Through a number of semi-structured interviews run in the Lazio region FabLabs network, we were then able to identify strengths and weaknesses of the current FabLab models and to set up a framework for future research.