Editing Fab lab (section)

== History ==
The fab lab program was initiated to broadly explore how the content of [[information]] relates to its physical representation and how an under-served community can be powered by technology at the grassroots level.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Mikhak|first1=Bakhtiar|title=Fab Lab: an alternate model of ICT for development|url=http://cba.mit.edu/events/03.05.fablab/fablab-dyd02.pdf|publisher=Bangalore ThinkCycle|access-date=6 July 2013|author2="development by design" (dyd02)|date=2002}}</ref> The program began as a collaboration between the Grassroots Invention Group and the [[Center for Bits and Atoms]]  at the [[MIT Media Lab]] in the [[Massachusetts Institute of Technology]] with a grant from the [[National Science Foundation]] (NSF, [[Washington, D.C.]]) in 2001.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.iaac.net/fab-lab/fab-central |title=Fab Central - Fab Lab - IaaC |publisher=Institute for advanced architecture of Catalonia (IaaC) |website=iaac.net |location=[[Barcelona]] |url-status=dead |access-date=21 October 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140210113809/http://www.iaac.net/fab-lab/fab-central |archive-date=10 February 2014 }}</ref>

[[Vigyan Ashram]] in [[India]] was the first fab lab to be set up outside MIT. It is established in 2002 and received capital equipment by NSF-USA and [[IIT Kanpur]].

While the Grassroots Invention Group is no longer in the MIT Media Lab, The Center for Bits and Atoms consortium is still actively involved in continuing research in areas related to description and fabrication but does not operate or maintain any of the labs worldwide (with the excmobile fab lab).
The fab lab concept also grew out of a popular class at MIT (MAS.863) named "How To Make (Almost) Anything". The class is still offered in the fall semesters.<ref name="HTMAA">{{Cite web |url=https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MAS.863/ |access-date=21 October 2024 |website=fab.cba.mit.edu |title=MAS.863/4.140/6.9020 How To Make (almost) Anything (HTMAA) Wednesdays 1:00-4:00 E14-633 2024 |publisher=FabCentral, Center for Bits and Atoms, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA}}</ref>