1. FabFuse 2012 is the first international grassroots Fab Lab conference
Amersfoort (The Netherlands), 8 - 11 August 2012 – www.fabfuse.org
SETTING-UP A FAB LAB IN SURINAME,
A PLAY ON THREE BOARDS
Pieter van der Hijden
Sofos Consultancy
2012 –Pieter van der Hijden (pvdh@sofos.nl) - This work is licensed under a Creative Commons
Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
1

2. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
 Pieter van der Hijden
 Fab Lab Suriname
 International Fab Lab Association
 Fab Academy Course “How to manage a Fab Lab”
 Amsterdam, The Netherlands
 Sofos Consultancy
2

3. AGENDA
 Welcome to Suriname
 Challenges
 Stakeholders
 Three playboards
 Mini Fab Lab
 Regular Fab Lab
 Official Fab Lab
 Conclusion
3

4. WELCOME TO SURINAME
 First 3 minutes of “Destination Suriname”, see
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdZU4WgH
giY
4

5. WELCOME TO SURINAME
 Tropical country
 400 * 400 km
 Flat coastal strip 80 km
 Hilly tropical rainforest
with some mountains
 Sun & natural resources
Source: www.gov.sr
5

6. WELCOME TO SURINAME
 Population
 80% - urban
 10% - rural
 10% - forest
 500,000 in total
 Economy
 Mining
(oil, gold, bauxite, etc.)
 Agriculture
 Tourism
 Offshore GDP pc – Computed by Wolfram Alpha =
USD 15.3 per day per person
6

7. WELCOME TO SURINAME
Forest – (no maps on
Google Earth), small
villages far away from
city, boat transport, no
electricity, low quality
education, poor.
Rural area – close to
city, low
education, traditional, b
oring.
City – Lively, shops, offices,
bars, schools, but also many
people (esp. young man)
with little education and
jobless
7

8. CHALLENGES
 Empower adults without
education
 Give all children access to
up-to-date education Invention
 Develop community to fulfill Job Creation
its basic needs (electricity,
clean water, sanitary Problem Solving
conditions, repair) Education
 Stimulate new businesses
Empowerment
 Support small and medium
enterprises to innovate The tower of empowerment (CSIR South Africa)
 Connect to the world
8

9. Creative Internet
University Research
campus provider
institutes
STAKEHOLDERS Techn.
schools
Consulta
ncies Colleges
Ministry Women
of movement
education
Embassy
Training
centre
Labour
Adult union
education
Govern-
NGO
ment
Crafters
Employers
Bank
ass.
Min. of
labour &
techn. Min. of
Big trade and
company industry
Chamber
of
Cultural commerce
centre
Museum
Waag Supra
society nationals
9

10. STAKEHOLDERS
 Subsequent initiators  Recurring pattern
 Waag Society Fab Lab  Initial interest and claim
 Local internet provider of ownerschip
 Mixed creative campus  No follow-up actions
initiative  Focus shifts to other
 Chamber of Commerce priorities
and Industry  Our policy
 Ministry of Technology  Who is the client?
 Government  Which help is
appreciated?
10

11. THREE PLAYBOARDS
 Mini Fab Lab - private
 Regular Fab Lab - consortium
 Official Fab Lab - government
11

12. MINI FAB LAB
 OLPC - One laptop per
child
12

13. MINI FAB LAB
13

14. MINI FAB LAB
 Computer class with
open agenda
14

15. MINI FAB LAB
 Arduino
15

16. MINI FAB LAB
 Simple cutting tool
16

17. MINI FAB LAB
 Game maker
Drawing by A. Fienieg, 1992
17

18. MINI FAB LAB
 Internet connection
Movie: Devika (13) (while sweeping) explains the working of telephone line, splitter,
adsl router, wifi, mediadisk, ups, etc. 18

19. REGULAR FAB LAB
 Mixed creative campus
consortium (NL-SR)
 Mixed motives
(social, economical)
 Fab Lab Waag Society
involved
 Long term perspective
1. Raising money for
campus
2. Developing campus
3. Developing Fab Lab
19

20. OFFICIAL FAB LAB
 Government initiated
 Mixed motives (boosting
high tech, connecting to
the world)
 Contacts with various
NL Fab Labs
 Short term perspective
1. Funding available
2. Space available
3. People available
20

21. CONCLUSION
 Mini Fab Lab
 Autonomous and flexible
 Experiences in local
context
 Resources for spreading
the word
 Regular Fab Lab and
Official Fab Lab
 Stay in touch
 Search for synergy
 Help where possible
21

22. REFERENCES
 Destination Suriname;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdZU4WgHgiY
 Business model generation; a handbook for visionaries, game
changers, and challengers; Alexander Osterwalder et al.; John
Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken NJ, USA, 2010.
 Design Thinking for Educators; Design Team Riverdale Country
School and IDEO; 2011.
 International Fab Lab Association; web site;
http://www.fablabinternational.org
 Special report: Manufacturing and Innovation; The Economist;
print edition 21 April 2012.
22

23. THANK YOU!
Pieter van der Hijden
Sofos Consultancy, The Netherlands
www.sofos.nl – pvdh@sofos.nl
Fab Lab - Where to start?
International Fab Lab Association
www.fablabinternational.org
23