The 17th edition of the Fab Lab Conference and Fab City Summit 2022

Bali Fab Fest brings global networks of knowledge in digital fabrication, green technologies, and digital innovation together with Bali’s local innovation ecosystems to create opportunities to address some of the island’s biggest challenges using the power of collaboration, technology, innovation, and digital transformation.

Connect With Creative Communities

• Enjoy a unique opportunity for in-person, meaningful connection with other local and global changemakers
• Dive into workshops, open forums, maker spaces, and themed events designed to enable mutual learning through problem solving

Global Meets Local

• Harness powerful synergies between local crafts & initiatives together with global mind and skill sets
• Balance creative tension between global and local perspectives, advanced technologies and crafts, cultural diversity, and multidisciplinary

Empowering A Regenerative Economy

• Design sustainable solutions that foster the regeneration of natural systems and social structures in a meaningful way
• Explore local responses to regenerative island living and support the digital transformation of a post-tourism economy in Bali

Advancing Technology

• Explore and experiment with the latest emerging technologies such as digital fabrication, synthetic biology, AI, blockchain and others.
• Learn about what’s on the horizon from leading experts in the fields of engineering, urban design, circular economy, and digital innovation

Bali Fab Fest is an international event that brings together the global Fab Lab network and the Fab City Global Initiative to the unique island of Bali from October 12-22, 2022. Bali Fab Fest connects global networks of knowledge in digital fabrication, green technologies, and digital innovation together with Bali’s local innovation ecosystems to create opportunities to address some of the island’s biggest challenges using the power of collaboration, technology, innovation, and digital transformation. 

The event is organized by the Fab Foundation, the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT, the Fab City Foundation, and the Meaningful Design Group. It will take place at the Jimbaran Hub and other locations connected with green innovation initiatives across the island.

The Event Flow

This event is a collaboration and a partnership between Bali, Fab Labs, Makersaces and Fab City networks. We invite you to Bali to explore the island's capacity and resources that can  address its challenges. We know that you will learn from the island’s richness while contributing your own sustainability knowledge and approach to the efforts that individuals and their communities are making to transform the island into a better place to live.

With our local and global teams, we're planning to give you a once-in-a-lifetime, hands-on experience of the island. After checking in at our main venue, Jimbaran Hub, on the morning of Wednesday, October 12, you'll have the opportunity to travel across the island for various immersive experiences hosted by local innovators. You'll learn about the local challenges, solution approaches and contexts, gain new skills and make new connections. After two nights of discovery around the island, on Friday, Oct. 14, we'll meet back at Jimbaran Hub and share what we've learned in an open evening session over Indonesian food and drinks. Together, we'll identify project ideas that respond to the contexts we've been introduced to and you'll be invited to continue to develop these throughout the week and review them at the end of the event.

On Saturday morning we launch the conference talks, workshops and network updates with an official welcome by the main hosts of the event at the Jimbaran Hub. The Fab Academy Graduation Ceremony will follow with a small celebration that night, also at the Jimbaran Hub. On Sunday, we’ll  self-organize around the main venue, setting up collaboration streams, working groups, and informal discussions. 

Monday will be an official Policy Engagement Day with local authorities and stakeholders participating.  We’ll hear about the  State of the Fab Lab Network, celebrate new cities as they take the Fab City Pledge, as well as engage in parallel meetings that help establish  a local agenda for Bali’s  own Fab City Strategic Action Plan. 

From Tuesday to Thursday at the main venue, we will be hosting context- relevant panels in the mornings, as well as afternoon workshops to support projects developed earlier in the week. We plan for  teams and working groups to make good progress during these few concentrated days, and then share with the network their findings and lessons learned on Thursday.  These report-outs on Thursday will be in an open format. 

The Symposium will happen on Friday, Oct 21,  a full day of inspiring talks, organized around  the Fab City Full-Stack framework.  From morning to evening, we will unpack the layers of the framework  through the experience of recognized experts in their field. 

Saturday is  time to PARTEE! We’ll gather together at a secret new beach club in Jimbaran to connect, relax and celebrate this once-in-a-lifetimegroundbreaking event in Bali!

By the end of the event, we hope you will have experienced a transformative journey and bring home new culture and knowledge that expands your visionof the world. We hope you’ll depart feeling forever connected to this magical place, a place  where new forms of collaborating and innovating are emerging, a hub for changing our world.