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About2024-01-16T15:08:52+01:00

Manifesto

échoFab is a prototype of a district community-based digital workshop

Prototype

We explore and experiment with various digital manufacturing approaches and create a community of people motivated by these new practices in order to make them available to the public.

District

We are located in the heart of the District Central of Montréal. We collaborate with Fab Labs and with netsurfers from around the world, and we connect with communities of hackers, manufacturers, technicians, academics and citizens. Since the neighborhood is a fundamental part of the civic life of our city since it brings us together in a geographical place, we want to position ourselves as a creative center within this whole.

Community-based

We believe that digital manufacturing is on the verge of expansion through our societies, and we anticipate that in the future, neighborhoods, villages and schools will be equipped with laboratories that will meet their needs and realities. We believe that digital manufacturing is not just a way to build an object, but a tool to grow people in a community, creatively, economically and socially. Our raison d’être is to invite citizens to participate as much in the process of setting up the workshop as in the use of it. We believe in the crucial importance of the pooling of the material means of production as well as of the knowledge that flows from them.

Digital workshop

We are a digital manufacturing workshop. Starting from an idea, we conceptualize it using various computers and electronic instruments, and we realize it using machines and tools at our disposal, many of which are computer-driven.

Our reading of the Fab Charter

The reading of the charter has led us to determine 3 free moral conditions for users of échoFab

Collaboration

You agree to participate in other projects in progress when you are on site. You give others the benefit of your knowledge, and the others make you benefit from their knowledge.

Documentation

You agree to document what you are doing so that others can do it again or improve it. Note that this does not prevent the possibility of a commercial exploitation of your project, by choosing a suitable license.

Sharing

You agree to share this documentation, publish it on our wiki, or on our social medias. This can be done under a license that prohibits the commercial exploitation of your project, but authorizes its reproduction in a personal capacity, such as a Creative Commons license.

Our team

Here are the pillars of our Fab Lab

François Auclair

Fab Lab Coordinator, Fab Academy instructor

Annie Ferlatte

Strategic Ecodesign Coordinator, Fab Academy instructor

Guillaume Pelletier

Web developer

Geoffroi Garon-Épaule

Researcher in residence and expert in digital badges

Monique Chartrand

Founder and in charge of business development

Noémie Carrier

Fab Lab mediator

Rino Côté

Artistic and digital project manager

And our volunteers

André Théberge

Thomas Cortina

Guillaume Tremblay

Phonesavanh Thongsouksanoumane

Sylvain Durocher

Michel Ferlatte

Louise Carier

Our partners

We are proud of them, they are the best!

Our membership and accreditations

The organizations to which we belong

How to support echoFab

Looking for a way to get involved with us?

We accept donations of computer and electronic equipment, printers, cutters, various traditional tools and electric tools. Even if they are damaged or aging, our community can restore them and make them safe. Companies that want to have tools, instruments or computer equipment are also invited to do so through our Recovery Program.
Hardware in demand: Optical tools (eg microscope), woodworking tool (saw, sandblasting machine, column drill), electronics and robotics equipment, computer adapters of any kind (USB, VGA, DVI, RS232) , Large format printers, vinyl cutter.

Companies, non-profit organizations, social economy enterprises and public bodies can propose projects or become a support member of echoFab. Through your participation and support, we can guarantee free and open access to our premises, digital manufacturing tools and mediation.
We invite you to contact us to know all possibilities. We firmly believe that the future of digital manufacturing will involve the installation of numerous Fab Labs and it is thanks to the involvement of everyone that Fab Labs will demonstrate their potential from the point of view of technological innovation, Economically as well as socially speaking.

You can financially support echoFab or some of its activities. We can recognize your gifts by issuing charitable receipts.

By participating in lab activities, you give us a huge helping hand. It was thanks to the participation of enthusiasts that we were able to build machines purchased in kit, that we were able to organize our space and that we can dialogue with you. By taking part in the daily life of the lab and discussing digital manufacturing with your loved ones, you make the lab known and you allow it to take off.

Don't hesitate to send us a mail on info@echofab.quebec

Fab Labs Charter


Answers to your most frequently asked questions about Fab Labs

General

What is a fab lab?2017-06-28T14:37:22+02:00

Fab labs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access to tools for digital fabrication

What’s in a fab lab?2017-06-28T14:37:31+02:00

Fab labs share an evolving inventory of core capabilities to make (almost) anything, allowing people and projects to be shared

What does the fab lab network provide?2017-06-28T14:37:40+02:00

Operational, educational, technical, financial, and logistical assistance beyond what’s available within one lab

Who can use a fab lab?2017-06-28T14:37:47+02:00

Fab labs are available as a community resource, offering open access for individuals as well as scheduled access for programs

Who owns fab lab inventions?2017-06-28T14:38:02+02:00

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

Responsibilities

What are your responsibilities?2017-07-12T18:07:06+02:00

Safety: Not hurting people or machines
Operations: Assisting with cleaning, maintaining, and improving the lab
Knowledge: Contributing to documentation and instruction

Companies

How can businesses use a fab lab?2017-06-28T14:38:13+02:00

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

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