How the Fablabs Community Can Help the Italian Industry

Abstract

The aim of this study is to explore the relationships between Innovation infrastructures, Fablabs and the Italian industrial sector and how people outside of Silicon Valley and main center of innovations create technology innovation in practice and why they should use Fablabs tools for accelerating those processes. The number of entrepreneurs in Italy using Fablab services is exploding. However, while entrepreneurs in the main centers of innovation, such as Silicon Valley, have crucial social, cultural, economic, and material resources to build high-impact companies, these resources are often not present in moderate innovators countries. This research analyzes how Fablabs can facilitate the innovation activities of the Italian industries, reviewing the case of Fablabs who experience success in providing services to companies. To obtain useful data that match the research objectives, this study use a Focus group interview method. The questions are open-ended, which means that during the interviews, the actual questions may change according to the responses of the interviewees. The findings will contribute to understanding the role that Fablabs play for the Italian industry, explaining how digital fabrication technologies can help Italian companies to be more competitive.