Overview

Santa Chiara Fab Lab is a digital fabrication laboratory specialized in additive and subtractive manufacturing, electronic components and rapid prototyping. The term “digital fabrication” was introduced by Prof. Neil Gershenfeld, Director of the Center For Bit and Atoms at MIT in Boston (USA), to foster the use of digital technologies by non-expert people. From his vision, an international network of fab labs around the world was born in order to share knowledge and skills, support the digital innovation, provides new stimuli to the research, business sector and non-profit association. The Santa Chiara Fab Lab supports this vision by providing a space for co-design and multidisciplinary dialogue with universities, public and private institutions, professionals and citizens. The Fab Lab activities range from the lifelong learning, technology scouting, development of technological solutions with different maturity levels up to the patent. The lab equipment includes 3d scanner and 3D printers, CNC milling machines, laser cutter, tools and components like electronic circuits, sensors and wearable computing. The Fab Lab team is specialized in co-design and research-through-design with people with disabilities, to develop innovative technologies tailored on users’ needs.