The website and specialized magazine Makery had counted in France, in 2018, 380 fablabs, hackerspaces, makerspaces, third places and "others".
The Scientific Council of the French Fablab Network (RFFLabs), for its part, conducted a survey in 2018 to produce an overview of fablabs in France. 59 of them responded to a detailed questionnaire (136 questions) that focused on the history of each place, animation, administration and governance of the structures studied.
"There are many controversies about what can or should be considered a Fablab and for what reasons," say the authors of the Panorama, who state at the outset that they "did not want to establish borders and definitions a priori and opened the possibility of answering this questionnaire to any group involved in the management of a space open to the public, equipped with machines and participating in some way in the animation of the network.The authors of the Panorama point to the relatively high number of fablabs in France: 150 more than 10% of all fablabs opened in the world. "In relation to the population, this figure places France, along with Italy, far ahead of the countries most involved in this dynamic. In addition to this profusion, there are other forms (hackerspaces, makerspaces, and a few related brands) that claim to be part of the "maker movement.
68% of the people interviewed for the survey use the term Fablab to describe and define their structures. The term hackerspace, which refers to an older genealogy, is used by 8%, compared to 5% for the term " makerspace ", a more generic term that can describe all types of fabrication workshops. To this English expression, 20% of the respondents prefer the simple French expression " atelier de fabrication numérique".
Great diversity of activities offered
81% of the structures offer training (81%) and initiation (97%) activities. The organization of events (80%) or exhibitions (29%) also plays an important role in the life of these places.On a daily basis, activities related to repair (86%), manufacturing (80%) or DIY (86%) take up a large part of the time. The reception of young people (71%) is also favored and encouraged.
Fablabs often offer more directly professional activities, directly related to prototyping (69%) and project support (68%). Another, more lucrative, aspect concerns coworking (37%) and privatization of the space (34%). " For many places, these activities can represent interesting sources of revenue," note the authors of the study.
42% of the structures surveyed share their premises with one or more other structures
14% of the structures questioned are located in spaces belonging to a company, 12% in a school or training center, 19% in the premises of an association, 12% in the premises of a local authority and 10% explain that their premises are associated with those of a third place (the premises can sometimes be shared by a company, an association and a local authority or a third place) " This favors the link with the immediate environment and can encourage the implementation of joint actions or partnerships.47% of the structures have dedicated part of their space to offices or administrative activities. Coworking and shared offices represent on average 37% of the uses of the places that answered the questionnaire. 17% of the facilities also offer an exhibition space, to present the projects they have carried out and demonstrate the machines available on site. Out of all the places studied, 10% have a shared garden.
The 3D printer, the most widespread equipment
93% of locations surveyed said they own a 3D printer, 71% a laser cutter. "3D printers, because of their ability to quickly manufacture a small object and to make visible the passage from bits (a file) to atoms (an object), are very useful machines for demonstrating to the general public the logic behind personal digital manufacturing. It is, very often, a machine used as a gateway to go further and use other available equipment. These machines, when they are efficient and for those who master their use, also allow the realization of very precise parts.69% of the locations surveyed complete their equipment with a 3D scanner, "which allows them to partially bypass the issues related to the difficulties of modeling and to obtain 3D files that are quite complex without necessarily going through a modeling software".
Small format (47%) and large format (29%) milling machines complete the arsenal of machines offered in these shops, while 44% report having a plotter and 34% have hot wire cutters.
Electronics kits and other more traditional machines also appear in the list of equipment present in the places studied.
But who goes to FabLabs?
Even if a significant amount of data exists (documentation of places made by external and internal actors of Fablabs, academic works studying specific places, information gathered by local teams, etc.), the authors of the study believe that "the establishment of most places and their activities is too recent to be able to establish a fine and objective typology"."The number of Fablab users varies considerably: from 6,000 to 3,430 members depending on the structure: an average number of members that is close to 200. The network seems, in fact, "composed of a few 'large' communities and a majority of 'small' communities".An audience that is still often male
Men are in the majority among the members in 49% of the structures studied (between 75% and 100% of the members) but 15% of them have parity or quasi-parity between men and women. The authors add, in this regard, that "beyond the various tools and programs specifically designed to address this gap in many places, school and university Fablabs particularly promote this increasingly parity mix".Three levels of participation
According to respondents, on average 65% of members are user-members (44% in organizations with over 200 members).For all the structures, the average number of members involved in the animation of the structure would reach 24%. The median percentage of members involved in the organization would be 10% (7% in structures with more than 200 members).
For the time being," note the authors of the Panorama, "it does not seem reasonable to cross-reference this categorization with socio-professional categories or social trajectories , insofar as involvement in the animation of labs can respond to completely different motives: free time ensured by a period of unemployment or professional transition, time constrained by a tight schedule but freed up by passion, idle time, initiation time, time financed by the interest of various structures for the phenomenon, multiple configurations coexist. In the same way, because of the novelty of the "Fablab phenomenon", many visits are driven by curiosity, but this curiosity can be transformed into participation through a meeting, a project or an event.The French FabLabs Network has announced the launch of a new national survey of French fablabs, which will be followed by a mapping and a synthesis.
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