Fab INACAP

Macul, Région métropolitaine de Santiago

School workshop

Space size 90 m²

Opened in March 2018

Structure type Private university

Explored in November 2018


It is a space with technologies and methodologies to support and foster the process of creation, innovation, and entrepreneurship.

Main interests

Technology - machines & tools Community Entrepreneurship

This workshop is great for:

Small & medium businesses Schools & universities Entrepreneurs Makers pro Students Adolescents between 12-18 Teachers

Entrepreneurs, this lab is for you!

If you want to solve a problem, address an existing challenge, test your idea or develop your project… don’t hesitate and come in Fab INACAP!

Here you can find a free and opened space with technologies and methodologies to support and foster the process of creation, innovation, and entrepreneurship of everyone with a project.

Our workshop

Learn more about our space, members, machines & services!

When was the last time you come through the door of a Library to look for a book? I dare to guess…long time ago. It is even more the case as knowledge is more and more at our fingertips. But, what became those gold mine of knowledge? How to attract people again? It is a challenge faced by the Library director of the network of 26 INACAP universities spread across Chile in 2017.

Sitting with the Directors of infrastructure and the one of entrepreneurship area, they had the idea to implement a makerspace thanks to what they knew about the Fablab network and adhere to its idea to build it in the library as it has the same spirit : To share knowledge.

To implement the FAB INACAP, they launched a call for tenders and the one of Rodrigo Diaz won (independent consultant). He then had been logically hired to supervise its creation in March 2018 and to follow its development.

This lab located in the « Santiago Sur » site is free and open to people from both inside and outside the university. It is the pilot lab who aimed to be spread in all the 26 other sites. But in a very specific way. Here it is not simply a case of duplicate stricto sensus the same lab due to the required investment. The team of the first lab will first explain how to use the machine by teaching how to build them with low-cost machines they have built so that they can replicate them, modify them with a low budget.

In January 2019, they aim to train 5 universities to finally reach the 21 others by the end of 2019.

This development is the manifestation of the university strategy which is to be the most “entrepreneurial” of all Chilean ones by 2030. And also, it is the reason why the focus of the lab is very much on entrepreneurship. For illustration purpose, the lab doesn’t give digital fabrication courses as it considers a lab user as an entrepreneur who won’t learn everything he needs to launch a business but rather will create a complementary team. In reality, the lab team support makers by informally explaining to them how to use machines. But the lab still incites makers with complementary skills (electronics, design, manufacturing,…) to work together.

You need to have a project to get access to the makerspace, but once you step in, the team will challenge you so that you can answer the question: “Why are you doing it ?”.

More than an innovative space where users can find high-tech machines, they come and come back because of the quality of the support provided by the team who has developed a real expertise in prototyping to make them use the relevant machines or tool at the right time and for the good purpose.

Among this dream team, are Daniel Canales Sandoval, the fabmanager and industrial designer, who had experience in managing a makerspace dedicated for students’ academical projects in the Universidad de Chile and Cristian Catalan, a self-made maker, architect and expert in 3D printer creation, who makes users benefit from his technical skills. They are supported by 2 interns, Claudio Ferrio and Juan Pablo Valenzuela Cerpa, last year students in the Automation and Control career, who even extended their internship from 2 months to 4 months to stay working with the team.

But we cannot describe the team without presenting Rodrigo Diaz Gronow the director of the Development area of the Innovation Center where the Fab is administratively located. After a career of designer and teacher at the Universidad de Chile, where he discovered the maker movement, he was selected by the board of Directors to create the first Fab of the INACAP Universities. This visionary took the opportunity to make the makerspace play a role as a catalyser to :

  • connect the red of Universities,
  • create entrepreneurs by changing the educational model
  • foster investigation among the teaching staff

And his first step was to lead by example, creating a space where the team is managed horizontally, taking decisions together during a weekly meeting and sharing the tasks among the team every morning. Everyone is able to replace each other but Daniel, as fabmanager, takes care of valuing and matching everyone strength to be efficient.

Start to open a makerspace with the minimum of communication (Inauguration Day, few talks) and without workshops for the early makers to learn using the machines…a failure you said Guess what, Fab INACAP did it and 7 months later, the place is full every day and they have already seen 90 projects within their walls. 💪👍

The key to this success lies in its approach and structure :

  • they are located in the former University library where students used to relax and work in team. As a consequence, they got the perfect location to attract the students who represent 80% of the users, which number can reach 40 some days.
  • they offer the space and the use of the machines for free to anyone, including external entrepreneurs who represent 10% of the community and mainly come from University incubation (more expensive) or from the team’s network
  • they collaborate with the other University makerspaces and schools of the neighborhood which attract external students and teenagers who benefit from workshops and represent the 10% remaining.
  • they only bought few machines and ask the University for a “small” space to start (90m2 regarding the 9000 students), that’s why it appears to be full with 40 users. This choice helps the team to adapt the space to the increasing needs of the community and to mix the users, to create encounters and then to foster the mutual aid.
  • the place is open to everyone but to have access, users need to apply. Only applicants with at least one project are accepted. Thus, the machines are fully used to produce projects, either personal, academical or professional.
  • the team’s proposal is to create and guide entrepreneurs in their projects. Hence, they encourage users to look for people with complementary skills rather than learning to do everything by themselves.

In short term, the objective for the team is to include all the corpus of teachers to attract more students and be part of the Curriculum.

In mid-term, they aim to grow and to strengthen the new-born community of makers from the surroundings makerspaces who mainly belong to other University. They want to create a community of practices, start working on common projects and be able to rely on the other makerspaces resources if necessary.

In long-term, they want to be part of a Fab INACAP network where each of the 26 INACAP Universities spread in Chile will have its own makerspace and will collaborate with the others. The maker spirit is identified to be the bridge over the existing universities which are sharing academical careers and values but nothing else for now.

The launch of this 90m2 space has been fully financed by the INACAP university (90 000 dollars) and, during at least the first two years, it financially supports the testing and building of a concept that is aimed to be spread in all other 26 sites of the INACAP universities in all Chili (30 000 dollars annual operational costs).

As it would be very costly to spread such pilot in all the other branches, the idea is to learn how to build its own machines to below the cost. In that way, they succeeded to reduce the cost of a 3D printer by 10 times from 5000US$ to 500US$.

The lab relies only on the support of the university as the access to the lab is free and open to anyone and the material sold by the lab is not seen as a source of profit. Nevertheless, for the future, the lab is looking for a business model to be at breakeven by two years so that the future network of labs would not be a huge cost for the university. Some reflection is ongoing. Like having a stake in the capital of the makers’ project. But the lab made a pledge to not make users pay a fee to use machines as they consider the start of a project is a critical phase to get success and users have to be helped.

To raise funds and finance their projects, makers can apply for government grants, from the ministry of economy and entrepreneurship. Among the 80 projects launched since the recent launch of the lab, 4 got 37 000 dollars each for 12 months.

When was the last time you come through the door of a Library to look for a book? I dare to guess…long time ago. It is even more the case as knowledge is more and more at our fingertips. But, what became those gold mine of knowledge? How to attract people again? It is a challenge faced by the Library director of the network of 26 INACAP universities spread across Chile in 2017.

Sitting with the Directors of infrastructure and the one of entrepreneurship area, they had the idea to implement a makerspace thanks to what they knew about the Fablab network and adhere to its idea to build it in the library as it has the same spirit : To share knowledge.

To implement the FAB INACAP, they launched a call for tenders and the one of Rodrigo Diaz won (independent consultant). He then had been logically hired to supervise its creation in March 2018 and to follow its development.

This lab located in the « Santiago Sur » site is free and open to people from both inside and outside the university. It is the pilot lab who aimed to be spread in all the 26 other sites. But in a very specific way. Here it is not simply a case of duplicate stricto sensus the same lab due to the required investment. The team of the first lab will first explain how to use the machine by teaching how to build them with low-cost machines they have built so that they can replicate them, modify them with a low budget.

In January 2019, they aim to train 5 universities to finally reach the 21 others by the end of 2019.

This development is the manifestation of the university strategy which is to be the most “entrepreneurial” of all Chilean ones by 2030. And also, it is the reason why the focus of the lab is very much on entrepreneurship. For illustration purpose, the lab doesn’t give digital fabrication courses as it considers a lab user as an entrepreneur who won’t learn everything he needs to launch a business but rather will create a complementary team. In reality, the lab team support makers by informally explaining to them how to use machines. But the lab still incites makers with complementary skills (electronics, design, manufacturing,…) to work together.

You need to have a project to get access to the makerspace, but once you step in, the team will challenge you so that you can answer the question: “Why are you doing it ?”.

More than an innovative space where users can find high-tech machines, they come and come back because of the quality of the support provided by the team who has developed a real expertise in prototyping to make them use the relevant machines or tool at the right time and for the good purpose.

Among this dream team, are Daniel Canales Sandoval, the fabmanager and industrial designer, who had experience in managing a makerspace dedicated for students’ academical projects in the Universidad de Chile and Cristian Catalan, a self-made maker, architect and expert in 3D printer creation, who makes users benefit from his technical skills. They are supported by 2 interns, Claudio Ferrio and Juan Pablo Valenzuela Cerpa, last year students in the Automation and Control career, who even extended their internship from 2 months to 4 months to stay working with the team.

But we cannot describe the team without presenting Rodrigo Diaz Gronow the director of the Development area of the Innovation Center where the Fab is administratively located. After a career of designer and teacher at the Universidad de Chile, where he discovered the maker movement, he was selected by the board of Directors to create the first Fab of the INACAP Universities. This visionary took the opportunity to make the makerspace play a role as a catalyser to :

  • connect the red of Universities,
  • create entrepreneurs by changing the educational model
  • foster investigation among the teaching staff

And his first step was to lead by example, creating a space where the team is managed horizontally, taking decisions together during a weekly meeting and sharing the tasks among the team every morning. Everyone is able to replace each other but Daniel, as fabmanager, takes care of valuing and matching everyone strength to be efficient.

Start to open a makerspace with the minimum of communication (Inauguration Day, few talks) and without workshops for the early makers to learn using the machines…a failure you said Guess what, Fab INACAP did it and 7 months later, the place is full every day and they have already seen 90 projects within their walls. 💪👍

The key to this success lies in its approach and structure :

  • they are located in the former University library where students used to relax and work in team. As a consequence, they got the perfect location to attract the students who represent 80% of the users, which number can reach 40 some days.
  • they offer the space and the use of the machines for free to anyone, including external entrepreneurs who represent 10% of the community and mainly come from University incubation (more expensive) or from the team’s network
  • they collaborate with the other University makerspaces and schools of the neighborhood which attract external students and teenagers who benefit from workshops and represent the 10% remaining.
  • they only bought few machines and ask the University for a “small” space to start (90m2 regarding the 9000 students), that’s why it appears to be full with 40 users. This choice helps the team to adapt the space to the increasing needs of the community and to mix the users, to create encounters and then to foster the mutual aid.
  • the place is open to everyone but to have access, users need to apply. Only applicants with at least one project are accepted. Thus, the machines are fully used to produce projects, either personal, academical or professional.
  • the team’s proposal is to create and guide entrepreneurs in their projects. Hence, they encourage users to look for people with complementary skills rather than learning to do everything by themselves.

In short term, the objective for the team is to include all the corpus of teachers to attract more students and be part of the Curriculum.

In mid-term, they aim to grow and to strengthen the new-born community of makers from the surroundings makerspaces who mainly belong to other University. They want to create a community of practices, start working on common projects and be able to rely on the other makerspaces resources if necessary.

In long-term, they want to be part of a Fab INACAP network where each of the 26 INACAP Universities spread in Chile will have its own makerspace and will collaborate with the others. The maker spirit is identified to be the bridge over the existing universities which are sharing academical careers and values but nothing else for now.

The launch of this 90m2 space has been fully financed by the INACAP university (90 000 dollars) and, during at least the first two years, it financially supports the testing and building of a concept that is aimed to be spread in all other 26 sites of the INACAP universities in all Chili (30 000 dollars annual operational costs).

As it would be very costly to spread such pilot in all the other branches, the idea is to learn how to build its own machines to below the cost. In that way, they succeeded to reduce the cost of a 3D printer by 10 times from 5000US$ to 500US$.

The lab relies only on the support of the university as the access to the lab is free and open to anyone and the material sold by the lab is not seen as a source of profit. Nevertheless, for the future, the lab is looking for a business model to be at breakeven by two years so that the future network of labs would not be a huge cost for the university. Some reflection is ongoing. Like having a stake in the capital of the makers’ project. But the lab made a pledge to not make users pay a fee to use machines as they consider the start of a project is a critical phase to get success and users have to be helped.

To raise funds and finance their projects, makers can apply for government grants, from the ministry of economy and entrepreneurship. Among the 80 projects launched since the recent launch of the lab, 4 got 37 000 dollars each for 12 months.

Our best practices

The inspiring things we do here to run our collaborative space

Building machines to create a red of makerspaces

categories
Community Training

What is it?

A workshop to train future fabmanagers to digital fabrication by making her/his first machine.

In concrete terms?

The Fab INACAP is the first makerspace located in one of the 26 University INACAP dispersed throughout Chile. To help other universities to create their own makerspace they are offering a workshop where the future fabmanager of each node will learn about 3D printing by making his/her first machine.

Why it’s interesting?

  • It reduces the cost of the machines to create a new makerspace
  • It transfers knowledge, experience and values
  • It creates bonds among the future fabmanagers
  • It tests if the manager identified has the motivation and competencies required to build and manage a new makerspace
Contact : fabinacap@inacap.cl

Our makers projects

Get inspired by the DIY projects of our team & members

Artificial Arm

It is an iterative project which purpose is to help a child with its arm’s mobility


Ideo Maker - Digital fabrication for kids

We develop accessible and applicable educational technologies to integrate Maker Culture into schools and foster the skills of the 21st century!


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