A fab space is a collaborative work space for making, learning, exploring and sharing,  it could be located within a public or private facility.

To explore how physical spaces can enhance innovation, a special interest group is calling for papers as part of the wider call by the 3rd Abbe’ Gregoire Conference, to be held in Paris April 3-4, 2018.

The Special Interest Group “Spaces for innovation and FAB labs” is organised by Lionel Roure (Cnam), Julie Fabbri (EM Lyon Business School), Letizia Mortara (University of Cambridge) and Anna Glaser (ESCP Europe).

The SIG would like to invite submissions for papers about physical spaces dedicated to innovation activities, and more particularly on fab spaces (which include a broad range of organisations such as makerspace, TechShop, hackerspace…), which have opened up recently in many cities around the world.

(If this topic is new to you then here is some useful background.)

Topics for discussion include:

• Is this a movement or just hype? What is new compared to the past?
• How do these different types of spaces and events foster innovation and creativity?
• Which tools/methodologies are being used to create communities of innovators and enhance inter-organisational collaborative dynamics?
• Are different kinds of spaces or events linked to different kinds of innovation activities?
• Little is still known on who uses these fab spaces; how do the technology and tools act as boundary objects between the users of these spaces?
• Which role fab labs play to foster entrepreneurial endeavours?
• How could these co-working spaces co-exist and how do they integrate in the cities?
• Are there differences between public and private initiatives?
• What is the difference in business models and what is their impact?

All the deadlines and guidelines are in the global call for papers, and on the conference’s website:

www.abbegregoireinnovation.com. Follow #AGID2018 on twitter.