MUSE Fablab, a cultural soul

FabLab, inside the MUSE, was established in 2013, as part of an unprecedented museological journey at the new Science Museum of Trento that follows social and technological evolution from prehistoric times until today, with a view to technology as an applicable extension of human thought and a potential tool for tackling the challenges of the 21st century.
FabLab is a place where ideas take shape: there are tools and skills for putting into practice those small or major innovations that can emerge in each of us. At FabLab, there are 3D printers, laser cutting and engraving machines, tools for electronics, programming, 3D drawing and also a classroom where students and adults can learn.

The cultural element is therefore the underlying theme that links all the activities offered and amplifies their meaning.
Economic sustainability is important but, of course, success is not made of economic balance alone.
We know our strengths: we are able to invent new proposals (sometimes new methods) that will allow our public to learn, be intrigued and have fun.
Our way of educating, communicating and engaging new audiences in the use of digital technologies (adult-child couples, seniors, primary school children, university students) is basically our manifesto.

The mainstay of our Fablab lies in education and in technological literacy.
We constructed and developed most of the activities around this pillar, with the participation of numerous schoolteachers in our refresher courses, the progressive increase in memberships and a precious increase in female attendance.
Working with common sense, enthusiasm and the desire to build something to believe in, has repaid us, in terms of presence, beyond all expectations.

The second and equally important mainstay is the social one.
So far we have carried out a service to citizens that has materialized in providing help to all those with an idea or a project and allowing them to fulfil it here with us: university students who have made prototypes for their thesis, young people about to create a start-up business or even simple model-makers or aspiring inventors who came here to give a shape to their ideas.

The challenge we now want to undertake is to give a broader social meaning through the development of projects in favour of vulnerable social categories. The construction of a FabLab capable of involving both people with physical or cognitive disabilities, as well as youths risking educational poverty.

Lastly, Fablab is also working towards another goal, which we had been chasing until now, and that we cannot achieve on our own: that of Open Innovation. We realised that this cannot be a mainstay of the Fablab MUSE. We are not a space where small businesses in the territory can create/produce innovation at full capacity. On the contrary: we can act as collectors and catalysts; we can co-organize excellent Open Innovation events for ad hoc projects - together with the other local partners.
In this sense, we can use these events to make collaborations increasingly solid, thus creating a network, and direct companies towards Industry 4.0 technologies. It is the goal towards which the European FabLabNet project has committed itself, trying to understand which directions to take. We can therefore help small start-ups businesses to obtain more visibility, but we can only help make their product materialize if we involve external partners. In fact, if a small company needs to produce something that will be placed on the market, it is no longer us in the role of interlocutors, but other local entities. We can arrange dialogue between individuals and facilitate scouting, contact and mutual acquaintance. We are a place in which museum culture communicates with citizens, technology and business and, in this way, tries to innovate.

Opening hours:
Tuesday till Friday: 10:00 am until 18 pm