About
Organization
Collaboration, Innovation, Experimentation, Hands on learning our values
Winam Fablab offers a hub for sharing ideas, tools and other resources by makers, Artisans (Jua Kali), professionals, educators, students, entrepreneurs, learning institutions, hobbyists, kids etc"
We tap into gaps between classroom-learnt skills and market needs experiences to build products that address challenges and emphasizes on local manufacturing using emerging tech-based trends like IoT. Based in Western Kenya region in Kisumu where there are just a few industries, the Fablab Winam will be keen on using people-centred design approaches for socio-economic challenges and incubation
We are a hub for knowledge-share, digital fabrication and innovation; empowering communities through human-centred designs and prototyping with focus on local manufacturing by locals themselves.
The aim was to encourage innovation and entrepreneurship by engaging students in both formal and informal multidisciplinary design projects
In the long term, the goal is to integrate the space into all levels of the engineering curriculum and encourage project-based learning. .
To provide prototyping space for nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship
Fablab has placed a collection of tools that are typically inaccessible to most innovators in our engineering space.
The users pay a membership fee, much like they would in a gym, to access these machines. Those that are further along with their development can also sublet space from us in an incubator mode. We also offer course on technologies through Fab Design Academy using adaptive learning methodologies, which allow students to engage in a flexible way.
Fablab Winam is part of over 2000 Fablabs around the world working together towards the same goal.We share a common charter as below:
- Fab labs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access to tools for digital fabrication.
- Fab labs share an evolving inventory of core capabilities to make (almost) anything, allowing people and projects to be shared.
- Fablab network provides Operational, educational, technical, financial, and logistical assistance beyond what's available within one lab.
- Fab labs are available as a community resource, offering open access for individuals as well as scheduled access for programs
- Designs and processes developed in fab labs can be protected and sold however an inventor chooses, but should remain available for individuals to use and learn from.
- Commercial activities can be prototyped and incubated in a fab lab, but they must not conflict with other uses, they should grow beyond rather than within the lab, and they are expected to benefit the inventors, labs, and networks that contribute to their success.