The Fab Charter

Mission: fab labs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access for individuals
to tools for digital fabrication.

Access: you can use the fab lab to make almost anything (that doesn't hurt anyone); you must learn to do it yourself, and you must share use of the lab with other uses and users.

Education: training in the fab lab is based on doing projects and learning from peers; you're expected to contribute to documentation and instruction.

Responsibility: you're responsible for:

• safety: knowing how to work without hurting people or machines.
• cleaning up: leaving the lab cleaner than you found it.
• operations: assisting with maintaining, repairing, and reporting on tools, supplies, and incidents.

Secrecy: designs and processes developed in fab labs must remain available for individual use although intellectual property can be protected however you choose.

Business: commercial activities can be incubated in fab labs but they must not conflict with open access, 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.

draft: August 30, 2007