Pangloss Labs receives the “Manufacture de Proximité” label from the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires

As part of its Nouveaux lieux, Nouveaux liens programme, the French National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) unveiled 61 new Manufactures de proximité on 18 July.

The Pangloss Labs association is proud to have been selected in the 3rd and final wave to become the only Manufacture de Proximité in the entire French Genevan metropolitan area and the 3rd in the department of Ain.

This is the second label received by Pangloss Labs, which has been a Fabrique de territoire since October 2020! Pangloss Labs is also the only manufacture de proximité with a renewable energy sector.

There are currently 100 third-places with the Manufacture de Proximité label, deployed throughout France.

The "Manufactures de proximité" scheme was launched in July 2021 by the National Agency for Territorial Cohesion (ANCT) and the General Directorate for Business, in conjunction with France Tiers-Lieux, to provide long-term support for entrepreneurs and craftsmen throughout our territories, and to provide impetus, within the framework of France Relance, for a programme of economic and engineering support for third-space production sites.

As a reminder, third-spaces are physical spaces for doing things together (coworking, connected campus, shared workshop, fablab... Third spaces are the new places for social links, emancipation and collective initiatives.

What is a Manufacture de proximité ?

Manufactures de proximité are productive third-spaces, which animate and provide services to a professional community. The aim of these local manufactures is to support local economic activity by enabling craftsmen, entrepreneurs and very small businesses to come together in small local production units and to benefit from services and training. The Local Manufactures will become a resource for local industry in order to relaunch the manufacture of products in France.

The Manufactures de proximité will receive grants of an average amount of 250,000 euros over two years to help them invest in local production machinery and equipment to improve their manufacturing capacity, consolidate their business model and purchase equipment for their professional community. The selected Local Manufactures all benefit from an engineering programme that has two components: A four-month incubation phase for project leaders to consolidate the project presented; a two-year tailor-made support phase for each factory, once the funding has been granted, to accompany the implementation of each project. This support aims to create a local economic dynamic and to encourage the promotion of trades, skills and know-how.

Manufactures de proximité are at the heart of the revival of business through territories and the revitalisation of territories through business. I have long defended these third-spaces that bring together VSEs, SMEs and craftsmen around sectors, objectives and values of the future, anchored in people's daily lives. These first 100 labelled structures contribute to our economic sovereignty: they must therefore inspire new ones

Olivia Grégoire Ministre déléguée chargée des Petites et Moyennes Entreprises, du Commerce, de l’Artisanat et du Tourisme

Manufactures de proximité are unique places where production tools and techniques can be shared, and they help to create a new economic and social dynamic in our territories. They are a lever for promoting our unique heritage and know-how. Our territories are a wonderful breeding ground for initiatives: I am delighted that these first 100 manufactures de proximité are helping to revitalise them!

Caroline Cayeux Ministre déléguée chargée des Collectivités territoriales

"Facilitating access to a world of possibilities".

This is the raison d'être of Pangloss Labs, a non-profit association created in 2014. The mission of the association, based in Ferney-Voltaire in the Pays de Gex (Ain), is to create laboratories for experimentation and prototyping to support local entrepreneurial activities.

Pangloss Labs is a third-space that offers easy access to multiple physical spaces to share and pool tools, machines and workspaces, and provide opportunities for collaboration on different projects. Currently, we offer a Fablab, a Coworking space, and a shared wood workshop (the Woodlab), and are developing a metal workshop (the Metal lab) in beta test. The Pangloss Labs association has about 100 members with various skills. They include professionals (engineers and scientists, designers, creators, artists and entrepreneurs), but also students, retirees and passionate amateurs. By offering production tools, machines and professional skills that are simply not available elsewhere in the Pays de Gex, Pangloss Labs has a lighthouse role and thus responds to a need of companies, social actors and citizens of the territory.

Our action plan as a "Manufacture de Proximité" foresees the increase of the manufacturing capacities of our Fablab, the development of a professional services pole to support local companies and the development of professional training activities.

We are developing cross-border cooperation with various universities and schools: USMB, UNIGE and HEPIA. We are providing prototyping and experimentation support for the new renewable energy eco-system that is being developed in and around Hotspot, the first building of the Ferney Genève Innovation project.

Guillaume Cabrié, co-founder of Pangloss Labs and co-director of the Fablab, said: "We have already helped hundreds of local entrepreneurs with their businesses and increased the number of digital fabrication machines in the region. This award is recognition of this and will help us to move quickly to the next stage, making more and better products right here in France. "

For more information, see our Manufacture de Proximité Project or contact us.

Pangloss Labs receives the “Fabrique de territoire” label from the Agence Nationale de la Cohésion des Territoires (National Agency for Territorial Cohesion)

On 22 October, the Minister for Territorial Cohesion and Relations with Local Authorities, Jacqueline Gourault, unveiled the 60 new winners of wave 3 of the "Fabriques de territoires" call for expressions of interest which was launched by seven members of the Government in July 2019. The aim is to support the development of third places in France and help them to become more structured and professional. Pangloss Labs appears in this selection, the only tiers-lieux in Ain amongst 8 others in the Auvergne-Rhône Alpes region.https://www.cohesion-territoires.gouv.fr/les-60-nouveaux-laureats-de-lappel-manifestation-dinteret-fabriques-de- territoire-annonces The first Fabrique de Territoire National Meeting was held on Monday 16th November online, Pangloss Labs participated. Fabriques de Territoires will receive a grant of 150,000 euros over three years to support the start-up of their project, their influence beyond the territory in which they are established, the formation of their team and the search for their economic balance. In this way, they become part of a community driven by the values of sharing, the production of common goods, the experimentation of participatory governance models and the ambition to create social links for the benefit of the inhabitants of their territory. "Facilitating access to a world of possibilities." This is the raison d'être of Pangloss Labs, a non-profit association created in 2014. Creating experimentation and prototyping laboratories to support the creation of local entrepreneurial activities is the mission of the association, based in Ferney-Voltaire in the Pays de Gex (Ain). Thus Pangloss Labs is a collaborative third-space that offers its members several spaces to share and pool tools, machines and workspaces: The Pangloss Labs association has around 100 members with a variety of skills. Among them are professionals (engineers and scientists, designers, creators, artists and various entrepreneurs), but also students, retirees and amateurs. By offering production tools and machines and professional skills that are not available elsewhere in Pays de Gex, Pangloss Labs has a flagship role and thus meets a need of companies, social actors and citizens in the area. Pangloss Labs also provides services to partners, public organisations and municipalities, and works with them on joint projects. Our action plan as a "Fabrique de territoire" includes the development of digital training activity (courses on Fablab's machines and digital expertise and support for members in their activities to fight the digital divide), support for social activities and support for activities working towards sustainable development; increasing the number of members; strengthening communication and external relations; extending the scope in the areas of digital transition and energy transition; and helping to develop the territorial network of third places in the French Genevan area. State support should help us to increase the association's resources and make Pangloss Labs a key third-space in our region.

Pangloss Labs and COVID19

The short version: the fablab is capable of fabricating some medical things locally if neededRead on for details. UPDATE: Working with the Region Rhone-Alpes, we have been supplied with materials for fabricating face shields.  If you are in the Pays de Gex and need some, please make a request at the Visiere Solidaire web site and we'll be in touch Even if our fablab is currently closed, Pangloss Labs members have been studying the possibilities for making the equipment needed to help fight COVID19 in case we are needed. The open source community around the world has stepped up magnificently.  There are a number of groups online, designing and testing different types of equipment. From face masks to face shields to automated ventilators that provide oxygen to patients in difficulty. Designs are undergoing medical tests in Ireland and Spain.  The most active seems to be this one on facebook which has a crowd sourced document on potential solutions and needs for fighting COVID19. We have been solicited by the region Rhone-Alpes Auvergne to tell them of our capacities for digital fabrication and have done so. More than 130 3D printers have been made available across the region. Some people around the world started immediately 3D printing face masks, which is certainly feasible, if a bit slow. However, 3D printed face masks have a number of downsides, not least of which is that filament-based 3D printed objects are difficult to sterilise (not impossible, but more difficult than an injection moulded plastic design) and, of course, they do not conform to national standards.

So what is feasible to do in a Fablab?

We have 3D printers, laser cutters and mechatronics capabilties.  We are not, for the most part, medically trained. We have collected together some of the open source designs that would be feasible to fabricate in our fablab :

3D printed door handle extenders

These are designed to make it so doors can be opened with arms instead of hands - reducing the spread of COVID19. Materialise have created an open source collection of designs for different types of doors. These take 2-4 hours to 3D print.

3D printed door openers

this time so a person can carry it from door to door and not have to touch them with their hands to open it. Thingiverse has a collection of designs. These take roughly 30 minutes to 3D print.

Facemasks

Making filters for facemasks is a simple process of cutting the correct shape from the appropriate filter material. In the event that facemasks and the proper materials are really not available, studies have been done to find "last resort" replacements For cloth facemasks, you don't really need a fablab. Scissors and a sewing machine will work fine.

3D Printed Facemasks

Many enthusiastic 3D printing communities have designed and printed facemasks on the grounds that they are better than nothing. . There are a number of different designs from HEPA filter based, to simple frames for a cloth mask. It's impossible to choose which ones would be useful locally, but if there are clear local needs, there are plenty of open source designs available for us to use or modify.

Face shields

If masks are not available, then face shields can protect medical staff against direct droplet infection - like from a cough. Face shields can be laser cut from clear plastic which is much faster than 3D printing. There are even designs which use A4 plastification sheets.

Ventilators

In a more serious pandemic situation, we could certainly provide small scale production of open source ventilator designs to help patients breathe.

Oxygen concentrator

Reprap has started work on an open-source Oxygen Concentrator.

Valves and other complex parts

There has been at least one case where a hospital in Italy has had valves for reanimation devices 3D printed when they weren't available from the supplier. We have machines in our fablab that can do this.

We are willing to do our part

Our production capacity in the fablab is limited but we have links with other fablabs/makerspaces/hackerspaces around us. To local doctors, the Pays de Gex medical centres, local hospitals, and the Mairies around us we make this simple statement.
"If you need us, we will help".
If any of this will help you, contact us at fablab[at]panglosslabs.org and we will be in touch to discuss your precise needs. And if it turns out that we have all the medical equipment we need, so much the better, we will stay home like everyone else.

Closing the loop: Innovation for a Circular Economy

On Wednesday 6th December, 2017, Paul Bristow represented Pangloss Labs along with 5 other startups with innovations in the circular economy in Brussels .  We were chosen from across all of the EU to participate in a high-level policy discussion at the European Parliament, hosted by Nespresso and the EU40. MEPs Franc Bogovic (EPP, Slovenia) and Davor Skrlec (Greens/EFA, Croatia) hosted the roundtable debate preceded by six start-ups that pitched their innovations and spice up the discussion. (more…)

Introduction to 3D Printing

Training : Introduction to 3D Printing

Price for this trainingMost Popular50

Price for Pangloss MembersPangloss membership is €30 per year30

Learn about the world of 3D printing from one of our fablab experts.  In this introduction course you will learn the basics of 3D printing and how to use a filament-based 3D printer, including the all important first print.

What the course covers

This is a two hour course including hands on exercises with a Pangloss expert.

At the end of it you will be able to use the Pangloss Labs 3D printers, and be much more expert with your own 3D printer at home or work.

The course includes:

  • 3D Printing Technologies
  • 3D Models
  • Slicing into layers
  • Controlling the printer
  • Your first print
  • Print Designs

Pre-requisites

No specific knowledge is needed for this course.  Your technical ability should be "can click a mouse".

Practical

Bring a laptop computer or tablet if you can.  If not, you can use one of ours.  We will use open source software "Cura" on this course so if you like you can install it on your computer before you come.

This course is available on demand and take place in the Fablab in Ferney-Voltaire.  Fill in the form below to indicate interest and we will arrange a date to suit you.  Payment is only due once the date has been arranged.

This course is available in both English and French.


    This form is to indicate interest in one or more training courses. Payment is only required once you have agreed a date & time on a specific course. You are not obligated to purchase anything.

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    Pangloss @ #UNHCRNGOs

    On June 14th 2017, representatives from Pangloss Labs were invited to participate to the UNHCR annual consultation with NGOs.  From the sustainable development innovation lab, Paul, Charlie & Gianluca decided to dedicate one day to this.  With our partners from the Global Humanitarian Lab (based at the Palais de Nations), we exhibited some of the things that digital fabrication - and more importantly the entrepreneurial, problem solving mindset around it - could enable in refugee environments.    It was an eye-opening day for all of us, and each of us decided to tell the story in our own words. (more…)

    Making things for a good cause

    One of the great things about being based in Geneva is the interesting people you meet. While working on innovation for “International Geneva”, I met up with the ICRC’s innovation team. They have been working on a global makeathon for humanitarian causes. One thing led to another, and I ended up giving a webinar on rapid prototyping and following that up with a long blog post which you can read on the Enable Makeathon’s site

    Is Lake Geneva ready to make stuff again?

    Globalisation only flows one way. At least that’s the experience of the last 30 years. Manufacturing fled Europe, looking for more and more economies of scale, making millions of identical objects for the cheapest possible price.

    Mass manufacturing has changed the world, but every process comes to an end. When something becomes “the only way to do things”, innovation kicks in and find a alternative. Open Source distributed manufacturing is that alternative. New, open source technologies have reduced the costs of machinery by a factor of tens to hundreds. Things that were complicated and expensive, like accurate positioning in 3D space, have become trivially simple and ridiculously cheap. The result is that it has become much less expensive to make individual customised objects – something that mass manufacturing cannot do at all. FabLabs, like this one, are described as a place when you can make “almost anything”. We know what the things we cannot yet make are, and many of the projects in these spaces are open source machines to overcome these limitations. Just in the last two years we have seen machines for knitting clothes, printing fabrics, printing concrete, and laminating wood/carbon fibre composites, as well as DNA sequencers, projects to grow bricks, produce all sorts of energy efficient vehicles, and build your own energy efficient houses. These projects are not developed by individual geniuses in their garages. The internet was designed as a collaborative tool, and has delivered magnificently. Local communities of people interested in making things have found each other online, and joined together to create physical spaces where they can collaborate together. These projects, in turn collaborate online in globe-spanning open source projects, creating amazing collaborative answers to problems that might not be solved in any other way. Right now it’s not for replacing the things you can buy in the shops, more for replacing the things you cannot buy in the shops. How often have you searched and not found the thing you were looking for? Simply not been able to buy a spare part, or not found a table the right size in the right wood. Those are the sorts of things maker-spaces can produce using parametric design and shared resources. In twenty years the very idea that you would buy something that is the same thing that any of your neighbours have will seem quaint, like Henry Ford’s “any color you like as long as it’s black”. You will be able to easily customise the object you want to suit your exact needs and have it quickly manufactured in your local fabrication centre. Or have a brand new thing designed just for you from scratch using open source tools, technologies and techniques. Around Lake Geneva, this is a work-in-progress. On the 27th of June 2015, the makers of the Lac Leman region unified for the first time to put on the “Leman Make” Festival. At the start, we knew of two hackerspaces in the region. One year later we had dozens of local fabrication spaces involved in the festival, all of whom were making stuff right here. Technology should be a slave, not a master. It’s time it stopped being exclusive – something for other people far away to master – came back home, and was made accessible to everyone. As children we were all taught to share, and it turns out that sharing really can change the world for the better.So the answer to the question “is Lake Geneva ready to make stuff again?” is definitely a resounding yes. We hope you’ll join in.

    Fab Lab

    Fablab

    Hands on building of (almost) anything. Prototyping, finished products and repairs. With digital fabrication machines from 3D printers to lasers to large format CNC machines.

    A Fablab is a space for learning new skills and sharing your skills.  We do not have resources to fix things for free, but will happily show you how you can learn to repair and make things. To find out more, visit us on one of our regular open days.

    So far we've had projects including Art & Design, Prototypes & Repairs, Furniture & Decoration, Electronics & Automation, Experimentation & Research, Robotics, along with DIY & Education.  If you're not sure where to start, we even have group projects where you can learn with others.

    You don't have to start from zero.  Come and learn how about the world of digital fabrication with our regular training courses.  Our introduction courses are suitable for everyone, with reduced prices for Pangloss members!

    Where are we?  Ferney-Voltaire.  Find us here

    We have a range of different machines in the fablab, suitable for different types of project, from hobbyist to professional.  To use one of our machines, you will need to be a member of the association.  We do not (yet) sell material for making your projects, but may have small scrap/leftover pieces for testing.  Before reserving a machine, you will need to be trained in one of our training courses. Use of machines is on a first come first served basis and requires payment.  Hand tools, table saw, scroll saw, drill press etc are available in the space and are free for members to use.  Fees are displayed in the fablab and, for members, on the appropriate web page, but start at €2/hour for filament-based 3D printers.

    Send an email directly to the fablab team







      The Fab Charter

      What is a fab lab?
      Fab labs are a global network of local labs, enabling invention by providing access to tools for digital fabrication

      What’s in a fab lab?
      Fab labs share an evolving inventory of core capabilities to make (almost) anything, allowing people and projects to be shared

      What does the fab lab network provide?
      Operational, educational, technical, financial, and logistical assistance beyond what’s available within one lab

      Who can use a fab lab?
      Fab labs are available as a community resource, offering open access for individuals as well as scheduled access for programs

      What are your responsibilities?
      safety: not hurting people or machines
      operations: assisting with cleaning, maintaining, and improving the lab
      knowledge: contributing to documentation and instruction

      Who owns fab lab inventions?
      Designs and processes developed in fab labs can be protected and sold however an inventor chooses, but should remain available for individuals to use and learn from

      How can businesses use a fab lab?
      Commercial activities can be prototyped and incubated in a fab lab, but they must not conflict with other uses, 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

      Useful Fablab Links


      Pangloss at Leman Make

      We attended the LemanMake Festival in Nyon, to go and meet the hackers, makers in the region and to see how to democratise what can be done with fablab machines. Workshops for kids, impressive demo, conferences, everything was there to discover what the future will look like. LemanMake. Also a great opportunity to meet with our friends from all parts of Switzerland.

      Social Innovation talk at Impact Hub Geneva

      Paul was asked to speak at Impact Hub Geneva's crowdfunding launch event yesterday.  The round table was about Social Innovation.  With such people in the audience as representatives from the UNHCR and the ICRC he talked about the impact of crowdsourced open source hardware. Projects described included Data Canvas Sense Your City real-time environmental monitoring,  Publiclab - the citizen science portal, the Open Source Beehive project, Local Motors and the awesome E-NABLING the  future project, providing low-cost customised prosthetic limbs all over the world and making people smile. http://youtu.be/KcPjwq9-sDc  

      Christmas Gadgets, the Santa Tracker

      Gadget Guru is a short weekly radio show on World Radio Switzerland that I do with Tony Johnston. Here's the show from December 23rd, 2014: A few links from this show: 3D Printed cookie cutters can be downloaded from thingiverse or you can design your own.  The best place to try 3D printing is your local hackerspace. Post Tenebras Lab in Geneva has an open evening each Tuesday. Fixme in Lausanne has an open evening each Wednesday. FabLab La Cote in Nyon has it's open evenings on Mondays. The Christmas Shopper Simulator from Game in case your shopping was too easy this year The Norad Santa Tracker The cool magnetic levitation hoverboard http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSheVhmcYLA and the noisy one that you can make yourself