If you could make (almost) anything...

Dr. Eddie Kirkby, from the Manufacturing Institute has posted to the forum to say that:

Just to let you know The Manufacturing Institute in partnership with MIT and Manchester City Council will be opening the UK's first Fablab in East Manchester towards the end of this year. We will also be setting up the UK Fab Foundation to provide support and guidance in setting up Fablabs across the country.

It is good to see there is already interest in Sheffield.

If you would like to contact me my email address is eddiek@manufacturinginstitute.co.uk

Regards
Dr. Eddie Kirkby

An article about the Manchester Fablab from the The Manufacturing Institute contains:

Born from an outreach project by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in inner-city Boston, FabLabs have exploded around the world – reversing the top down approach to technological advancement by empowering everyone to invent.

...

Julie Madigan, Chief Executive of the Manufacturing Institute, said: “This is a grass roots, community project that gives everybody the tools to tap into their powers of invention. By empowering individuals, developing skills, furthering innovation, educating children and prototyping new product ideas from business, a FabLab can stimulate the economy and benefit many different parts of the community.”

...

Although typical FabLabs have a technically skilled staff, much of the learning and teaching comes from other users and by communicating with people in other FabLabs internationally. The philosophy is open source, whereby people use the centre for free in return for sharing full information with the global community. Businesses and inventors can opt to protect their product development ideas by paying to use the service.

A FabLab is a small scale workshop with the tools to make almost any object out of glass, metal, plastic or other advance materials, incorporating electronics and other technologies. Complete novices can use the centre and receive help in developing their own ideas, or in building some of the products made at other FabLabs using ready made instructions.

The Manchester FabLab will have a direct connection via the internet and real time video to the worldwide FabLab network, so that users can keep in touch, problem solve and brainstorm ideas with others as far afield as Pretoria, Ghana and Afghanistan.

You can read the full article here, it's great to see the ideas start to catch on in the U.K.