teaser: 'Neil Gershenfeld, who heads the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), started the Fab Lab movement 25 years ago, which now comprises well over 2000 labs around the world.'
author: Jennifer Wilke
type: article
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Fab City Hamburg had an important visitor in January: Neil Gershenfeld spent a day in the Hanseatic city. Neil, who heads the Center for Bits and Atoms at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), started the Fab Lab movement 25 years ago, which now comprises well over 2000 labs around the world. He is also co-founder of the global Fab City network, in which Fab Labs play an important role in building a circular economy.
Neil visited the cargo bike manufacturer XYZ Cargo, the Biolab Curious Community Labs and the Fab Lab Fabulous St. Pauli in Oberhafen, which share a large hall. In the Fab Lab, we showed him some projects and inventions - he knows the machinery himself, he invented its composition. He thought the Libre Solar charging control unit was great because it shows how complex and pioneering devices can be developed with the resources of a Fab Lab. The Libre Solar box adjusts the voltage of electricity from solar cells to that of batteries, is mobile and can therefore be used anywhere, for example with foldable solar panels.
When we showed him the DIY cell phones from the Fábrica project (2014), which were designed by his MIT colleague David Mellis, his eyes lit up. This should be continued with a new model, said Neil, and perhaps in Fab Cities, city-wide mobile networks of their own, such as LoRa wireless mesh networks, should be launched.
Neil emphasized how important it is that every city that has declared itself a Fab City has made a commitment. The development of the Fab City must be actively promoted by the cities, otherwise they would no longer be allowed to call themselves a Fab City.
But the Fab City is not just a technical vision. Neil had been to Fab Lab León a few days earlier and was very impressed by how girls and young women in particular are encouraged there. After all, technology should not be a male preserve.
In any case, we were very happy about Neil's visit!
