On Saturday, September 2, the Science and Education Innovation Center of the Liepaja Municipal Education Department will open the digital production laboratory “FabLab Liepāja” at Klāva Ukstiņa Street 17/23, so from 13:00 till 16:00 everyone – preschool children, pupils, students, educators, entrepreneurs and other interested are invited to get to know its material and technical base.
At the same time, several creative workshops will be provided in the outdoor environment in cooperation with such organizations as the Valmiera co-creation workshop DARE and the Latvian LEGO user group “LatLUG”.
“The combination of words “FabLab” comes from the English language and means Fabrication Laboratory in Latvian, and this name was chosen not only because of its translation, but also because the purchased material and technical base and qualified human resources made it possible to apply for membership of the international foundation “The Fab Foundation” and now we have become a full-fledged partner in the global community, so it can be considered that a digital production environment that meets international standards is provided in Liepāja. Membership in the community is free and provides several benefits, such as discounts on licenses for certain computer-aided design software, and since the community represents more than 90 countries with an average of 1,500 FabLabs worldwide, there is not only the potential for future international projects and initiatives, but also on a daily basis receive assistance in specific matters,” explains Kitija Kuduma, Acting Manager of the Science and Education Innovation Center.
“FabLab Liepāja” will be located at Klāva Ukstiņa street 17/23 – in the territory that the Liepāja municipality plans to develop in the future into a block of modern and successive educational institutions, so it is natural that the territory is gradually being cleaned and renovated. Currently, “FabLab Liepāja” is located in the canteen part of the building of the former educational institution – renovation works in an area of 100 square meters have been carried out for the financing of the municipality in the amount of less than 33,000 euros – the floor, wall and ceiling covering has been renewed, the electrical installation and lighting have been renewed, as well as a wired and wireless computer network has been installed. On the other hand, the material and technical base – digital production equipment, work tools, teaching aids and teaching materials purchased from the budget funds of the European Economic Area and Norway (EEA/N) financial instrument program “Research and education” project “Development of the innovation center in the city of Liepāja” – less than 121,000 euros.
“FabLab Liepāja” will have 16 multifunctional workstations related to digital production, which have also been partially moved from the Center’s location at Autoru Street 4/6. Currently, the workstations installed in 100 square meters are:
“It is absolutely clear that this is only the beginning – already in the process of settling in, we are already identifying what can be improved in the future, besides, now the material and technical base will allow us to manufacture more ourselves, and here is also the added value of the environment created by it – much wider opportunities to manufacture by ourselves what would otherwise be necessary to purchase on the supplier’s market at higher prices,” emphasizes Kitija Kuduma, “we will work on finding the most viable solution so that in Liepāja this becomes an environment where amateurs and professionals meet.”
“We will inform the wider public about the organization of work in the digital production laboratory “FabLab Liepāja” after the opening celebration – for now, we invite everyone to come on Saturday and get an idea of what the possibilities of the material and technical base are in general,” invites Kitija Kuduma.
The purchase of digital production equipment, work tools, teaching aids and teaching materials of the digital production laboratory “FabLab Liepāja” is financed within the framework of the “Development of Innovation Center in the City of Liepaja” project of the European Economic Area and Norwegian grant program “Research and Education”. The total cost of this project is EUR 986,049, of which EUR 754,327.4 is co-financing from Norwegian grants, EUR 133,116.6 is co-financing from the Latvian state budget, and EUR 98,605 is co-financing from the municipality of Liepaja.
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