After four years, Happylab Vienna is wrapping up its biggest project to date: the Happylab Innovation Cluster. This project has enabled Happylab to consolidate its role as one of the leading makerspaces in the global scene and to create an important platform for innovation, creativity and education in Vienna. The project was supported by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) on behalf of the Ministry of Economics and the Vienna Business Agency.
Successful development and impressive figures
In recent years, Happylab has established itself as a highly professional infrastructure that offers start-ups, SMEs and individuals access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies. With equipment such as laser cutters, 3D printers, CNC milling machines and much more, Happylab has built a bridge between fab labs and industrial manufacturing. During the project period, 2,278 people realised their projects at Happylab. In total, the various machines were used 282,104 times during these four years. The members spent an impressive 107,261 hours on the machines, of which 57,169 hours were 3D printed - the equivalent of over 2,300 printing days.
Co-Managing Director Roland Stelzer emphasises: ‘The funding from the Vienna Business Agency and the FFG has given us the unique opportunity to take Happylab to the next level. Thanks to this support, we have become a role model in the global makerspace scene and have built up a huge, innovative community.’
Karim Jafarmadar, second Co-Managing Director of Happylab, adds: ‘Numerous start-ups have been able to develop their products here. We have also inspired many young people for innovation, creativity and new technologies and shown them new career paths.’
With around 1,700 active makers, Happylab has become an indispensable part of the Austrian innovation landscape.
Comprehensive training and counselling services
In addition to the technical equipment, Happylab has also established a comprehensive range of training and counselling services. There were 6,051 training sessions on machines. In addition, 181 group tours were organised for school classes, giving pupils an insight into the working world of the future.
Mobile Maker Lab: Innovation on tour
A particular highlight of the project is the ‘Mobile Maker Lab’, which is used to spread the ‘maker spirit’ outside the Fab Lab. It is a self-built bicycle trailer equipped with simple, mobile production machines. The Happylab team can provide insights into the world of digital manufacturing in schools, youth centres, parks or at events. The aim is to familiarise as many people as possible with the topics of making and digital production.
Measures to reduce the gender gap
Happylab has also taken specific measures to reduce the gender gap in the maker scene and provide women and girls in particular with low-threshold access to technology. Workshops with female experts, gender-sensitive training formats and the presence of female role models have contributed to more equal opportunities.
Voices on funding and future prospects
Gerhard Hirczi, Managing Director of the Vienna Business Agency: ‘Digitalisation and innovation have a major impact on the further development of production. The low-threshold access to state-of-the-art manufacturing technologies offered by Happylab fits in perfectly with the Vienna 2030 economic strategy with its central themes of digitalisation and smart production. By focussing the offerings on women, girls and start-ups, Vienna is gaining fresh, innovative players in new fields of activity who will hopefully help shape the future of urban production.’
Henrietta Egerth, Managing Director of FFG, is also enthusiastic about the success of the project: ‘The innovation workshops have established themselves as dynamic spaces for networking, experimentation and the joint development and realisation of new ideas. The Happylab Innovation Cluster impressively demonstrates how easy access to creativity and innovation can lead from tinkering to the founding of start-ups. Start-ups play an important role for Vienna as a business location, as they create new jobs and drive innovation.’
With the successful completion of this project, Happylab Vienna is ready to continue its mission and further promote innovation in society. The unique results and the growing community show that investing in open innovation spaces creates sustainable added value for society as a whole.
