Creative Community Spaces
Communities of entrepreneurs create positive social, environmental, and economic changes in local communities. Creative community spaces (CCSs), which are physical spaces that encourage innovation by bringing entrepreneurs and start-ups together, are at the center of these changes. This article showcases a selection of 13 CCSs worldwide that contribute to building a sustainable and entrepreneurial community while helping advance industry-specific and sectoral issues.
How can creative community spaces support sustainable innovation from the root level?
What are some best practices in creating entrepreneurial ecosystems that lead to sustainable innovation and local impact?
Profiles of Creative Community Spaces
Fab Lab Lisbon
Background
Fab Lab Lisbon belongs to the global network of more than 1,000 fab labs that spans close to 60 countries. The network was created with the extensive support of academia as an outreach project of MIT's Center for Bits and Atoms. This space defines itself as a personal digital fabrication workshop for artists, scientists, engineers, educators, students, amateurs, and other professionals of all ages. This CCS is managed entirely by Lisbon's City Hall Department of Economy and Innovation. The space uses a pure funding model: The team and resources are subsidized from the municipality's budget, which goes toward supplying equipment and materials and supporting other services. The municipality subsidizes Fab Lab Lisbon because it aims to empower Lisbon's creative economy by democratizing access to innovative fabrication tools and collaborative community programs, connecting people, ideas, and resources to actualize ideas across industries. The idea of working across industries has appealed to a number of private partners, who are extending their support and industrial expertise in the form of equipment and mentorship.
In Essence
Fab Lab Lisbon is a coworking and community space that seeks to ally digital fabrication resources and creativity under one roof, serving as an open hub for experimentation and collaborative processes. It is a fab lab, a hackerspace, and a maker space; thus, it supports a large body of prototyping and designing across industries. As a coworking and community space, it serves to connect people and ideas and democratize access to these innovative fabrication tools. Fab Lab Lisbon offers a range of workshops; some of the most recurring ones are on laser cutting, 3-D printing, and precision milling.
Impact
Fab Lab Lisbon has impacted the urban regeneration of the neighborhood in which it is located. It transformed an abandoned rabbit slaughterhouse into an inspiring community design environment with free access to innovative and artisanal fabrication tools. Aside from the main fab lab, there is space designed for local carpenters, furniture makers, and artisans to craft, produce, showcase, and promote their products. Through such activities and its communal space, Fab Lab Lisbon serves as an anchor in urban regeneration, boosting the local community and more specifically building an entrepreneurial community.
In Practice
Project in Focus
Lisbão Sabão, a soap bar company, is one of the start-ups developed at Fab Lab Lisbon. Access to Lab Fab Lisbon's free-of-charge digital fabrication tools allowed Lisbão Sabão to experiment and prototype rapidly. The space-sharing community provided continuous feedback, which led to quick and different iterations in prototype development. The rented studio space was used to produce a small-scale production mold, with Lisbão Sabão having the use of digital fabrication equipment that would have been otherwise inaccessible. The product was pre-incubated and showcased at Fab Lab Lisbon's community-based events, which enabled feedback, media attention, and networking opportunities. In addition, Fab Lab Lisbon developed partnerships with external entities to provide dedicated workshops and mentoring sessions to Lisbão Sabão, focused on requested fields of interest such as branding and business model.