The M19 Collective is a collection of makerspaces, fab labs, community organisations, foundations, industries, universities, researchers and individuals, fostering a collaborative effort in open innovation and helping to combat the current COVID-19 crisis in India. The OxiKit is an open source oxygen concentrator design that allows for more than one person to use the same oxygen tank at the same time. As you may have read, oxygen tanks are in critically short supply in India. This initiative will help save lives, and build decentralized manufacturing capacity across the country. If you are able, please donate toward this important initiative to help save lives as well as support local production in communities across India.

Below you will find a few resources on the COVID-19 response from the Fab Lab Network as well as the larger Maker community. An updated Fab Lab Manufacturing COVID-19 Survey Response Summary is coming soon!

SCOPES-DF brings together a community of practice activating digital fabrication tools to support authentic student learning across all subject areas. With 1,000 members, this website hosts over 250 community-contributed lesson plans to engage students in learning with Fab tools. Lessons are standards-aligned and incorporate the Fab I Can Statements for student learning assessment. Join the SCOPES-DF community mailing list to stay informed of virtual webinars, workshops, and meetups with this amazing group of educators.

Since 2016, Chevron and the Fab Foundation have partnered to recognize educators that are creating STEM learning opportunities through digital fabrication. To date, we have awarded over $40,000 to formal and informal educators all around the world.

Last year was a particularly challenging time for educators and their students. Due to the pandemic, over 95% of school-age children were unable to learn in their classrooms with teachers. In spite of these difficulties, many teachers are innovating and finding a way to get quality learning experiences to their students, and we wanted to acknowledge them with the Teacher Innovator Award! Fab Foundation and our partners at Chevron awarded innovative teachers with $1,000 to continue their work during this pandemis.

To learn more about the 2020 Teacher Innovator Award Winners, click below!

The National Fab Lab Network Act of 2019 has been introduced to the US Senate and is in process of introduction in the House of Representatives, Bill S.2752 mandates a Fab Lab for every congressional district, empowering individuals and communities through digital fabrication tools that promote education, science, technology, engineering and math skills, increase invention and innovation, create businesses and jobs, and fulfill personal, professional, and community needs.

*Alaska and Hawaii not shown due to sizing constraints but also have fab labs. This map shows a rough estimate of fab labs that already exist in the US, taken from fablabs.io. There are more maker spaces throughout the US that do not appear on this map.