In June 2019, the City of Hamburg became the first German city to join the global Fab Cities initiative, which already includes 40+ cities or regions worldwide. Its goal: the sustainable city of the future that can produce (almost) everything it needs itself. The city will become a data-based circular economy with a digitally networked infrastructure of manufacturing, in which as many residents as possible will participate and become producers themselves. In 2054, this process should be so advanced that fab cities will only import and export data. In order to advance and realize this vision, Hamburg's Fab City community of Fab Labs, Makerspaces, workshops, innovative start-ups and research institutions institutionalized itself in the association Fab City Hamburg e.V. in October 2020.
