MIT - Fab Lab Norway

But who’s really coming to a Fab Lab located in the Arctic Circle, lost in the middle of the fjords? “Today, it’s Easter, people are in the mountains! Some people come here to say hello, to eat something with us, kids from the kindergarden come to play, all sorts of people come here everyday. From 92 to 5 years old.” MIT - Fab Lab Norway is an interesting melting pot of locals, tourists, curious people and scientists/researchers.

And how do they find out about such a remote place? “I don’t know, it can come from many ways. People talk about us, all around here and beyond. We were the first Fab Lab outside Boston.” And they come back, often for the locals with the many events and meetings, several times a year for bootcamps for the others.

“Everyone is coming back, everyone is part of the community. How could they come and not be involved?”

“It’s a community center, and that’s what people look for when coming here.” And while it’s not an everyday busy making place, many projects happened thanks to the Fab Lab. Every object in the Fab Lab has its own story and Haakon enjoys taking your time to tell them all over: the artemisia plant, the Chinese doctor and the malaria in Kenya; the Saako boardgame with the four-side dice and the King pawn found in Scotland; the mountains-shaped chairs; the chocolate dried cod fish; or even the flat doghouse!

Starting MIT - Fab Lab Norway and building up the different houses cost 2.1 million euros, which was almost 100% covered by Haakon (a successful entrepreneur!). With the help of 3 builders, the construction work took a year. Most of the things were made there and Haakon bought the rest. But the Fab Lab machines were paid by the MIT through their partnership.

Today, Haakon and his family take care of the place everyday, helped by the community. Up to 7.000 people come here every year, powering the accommodation activity (beds & food). It is their main income source thanks to tourists and trekkers, along with talks and conferences Haakon does abroad. The Fab Lab is a non-profit foundation, while the farm complex is a company. Yearly budget? 200.000 euros. To sum it up, it is both a touristic cottage AND a community lab collaborating with MIT.

What about its future? “I never have a plan. That’s true. I follow the stream. Let us make today a little bit better than yesterday.” Haakon’s main indicator of the Fab Lab good health is to see the community creating the future of the Fab Lab everyday. “All locals here know the Fab Lab, what we have, what we do and come here on a daily basis.”

Even if MIT - Fab Lab Norway is often introduced as Haakon’s solo initiative, “it’s not a one-man show, it’s all of us.” Including his wife, his children, the neighbours, the locals from Lyngen, MIT people.

When coming here for the first time, “you sit down at the table, grab a cup of coffee and talk with me or the others. People coming through the doors have to feel welcomed, it’s not just about saying it. If you do something, you really have to mean it! People already into projects come here to tell me more about the evolutions, when they need help, or a good connection to keep on going.”

Many events and meetings rythm the Fab Lab’s life. The most famous are the bootcamps, which started in 2005. “It was a huge success, people came from all over the world. They tried to do it through videoconference once, but it failed. People need to come together, to chat, to fish, to sit around together. The subject changes everytime.” Coming there, you’ll also discover many events like food parties, the national Science Week and even fish or music festivals!

When asked whether there are traces kept about what’s being made at MIT - Fab Lab Norway, Haakon answered: “No. Just a little bit, but not that much. I think we document everything on the website and the wiki. It’s a problem in the whole fabworld, there’s no place with the whole documentation.”

“As I said, my job is not to follow everything. There’s no IP here. People come here to tell me more about their projects. It’s often super hard to document everything, take pictures all the time, especially with inventors, with their own individual chaos. Fab Labs attract inventors, and have just a few entrepreneurs. And that’s all on labs.”

For now, the users do it for themselves and Haakon for his own projects. “Everything is open here. If you have the same machines, you can reproduce it as many times you want!”