In Fab Lab Lima Beno and Delia make you feel at home.

Vision, current situation of the Fab Labs, our future projects, concerns as well as the level of openess in accessing other Labs,  peru_lima_fablablimawere a few things that were discussed during these few hours.

So I ask Beno what the current situation is with the Floating Lab in the Amazon river and his ongoing projects and within 5min a projector is set up, the screen is down, the file is loaded and there I have it, a presentation of slides of many interesting projects and things going on..

Beno’s “bicicui” project is what would be needed for my trip had I only known earlier!

Delia introduced me to FabLat, the Latin American Fab Lab network where I received warm welcome messages.

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one of the messages from Abdiel from Panama currently in the Kennedy Space Centre

Later in the day I met with Felix, the manager of Fab Lab Atikux who arranged a visit to the Fab Lab UTEC. In this University Fab Lab, impressive work is being done, in very well equipped spaces spreading over 3 floors and fully committed and dedicated staff.

Lab manager Isaac is one of these people and together with Roberto and Julio they welcomed and showed us the spaces, while answering my questions regarding the planning, day to day operation and life in a university Fab Lab.

Impressive work involving machine design and fabrication was a sample of what I saw made by the students on the 4th floor using the Fab Lab facilities.

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Bio Fab Lab UTEC

A Bio Fab Lab opens its doors to a new course starting in March, Julio showed us around the Lab in progress and introduced us to the few students remaining in the Lab at that time. A microcosmos that is envisioned to help improve the Amazon’s environment, amongst other important projects.

.. and there is more, in case I was not overwhelmed by all this: drinks with Isaac and Felix sharing our Fab stories and ideas after having spent sometime with Felix visiting art galleries in the bohemian neighbourhood of Lima.

I met with some very inspiring people today, and got greeted online by an enthusiastic and well organised network.

Some thoughts of the day as discussed earlier:

It’s all about the people in charge, that is the coordinators, the lab managers, the directors etc. A successful lab is built upon their good relations, as well as passion and dedication on openess, knowledge sharing, innovation and social skills.

FabLat is a live example of all the above, thanks to which I keep my spirits up!
Muchas gracias a todos y espero que nos vemos muy pronto