Slovenian stakeholders, municipalities, regional development agencies, existing private and public FabLab initiatives met in Ljubljana, to discuss about the proposal to establish National Reference Creative Laboratories Network. The project idea, resulting from ERUDITE Interreg project was presented by both Slovenian Erudite project partners, University of Ljubljana and Ministry of Public Administration. Folowed by a short workshop, the meeting was successful.
Participants composed groups by local regions and elaborated on their FabLab ideas, goals, stakeholders, challenges and obstacles. With the support of ERUDITE methodology, important issues to consider in the future surfaced. Lot of existing initiatives and enthusiasts involved in creating different forms of FabLabs need to be connected. Creative Laboratories field (FabLabs, MakerLabs, ProtoLabs, Coworking spaces, etc.) needs to be coordinated on the national level. More decision makers need to embrace the idea and channel existing funds to foster development of the network. Finally, sustainable business models need to be derived and adapted to the specifics of the local enivronments. Most importantly – making the sustainable network a reality will have a substantial impact on Slovenian economy in the forthcoming years.
