Case Study: The Fab Foundation/Fab Labs achieves 1,000+ Fab Labs in 87 countries with SOLIDWORKS

Sparking a Global Network for Invention and Education With SolidWorks

The Fab Foundation/Fab Labs is a global nonprofit network that provides communities, schools, and entrepreneurs with local digital prototyping platforms and STEM education through the Fab Academy. Faced with the challenge of supporting diverse fabrication equipment and scaling access to affordable design and manufacturing tools worldwide, The Fab Foundation/Fab Labs adopted SolidWorks as the universal 3D CAD solution—using SOLIDWORKS Premium commercial licenses and SOLIDWORKS Education Edition—to give users an easy-to-learn tool that interfaces with 3D printers, CNC routers, cutters, mills, and more.

SolidWorks supplied one SOLIDWORKS Premium commercial license to each officially designated Fab Lab and Fab Academy plus ten SOLIDWORKS Education Edition licenses to each Fab Academy site, enabling consistent design workflows across the network. As a result, SolidWorks helped facilitate rapid prototyping and commercialization (examples include Fab Lab Manchester’s DryGrip and Fab Lab Padova’s TS3 pitbike), expanded the network to over 1,000 Fab Labs in 87 countries (with the number of labs doubling about every 1.5 years), and broadened STEM education and local entrepreneurship through the Fab Academy.

The Fab Foundation/Fab Labs

Sherry Lassiter

Director