Fab Academy
Want to learn how to turn (almost) all your ideas into reality and become a maker?
The Fab Academy at a glance
The Fab Academy is a course designed and taught annually by Neil Gershenfeld, director of the Center for Bits and Atoms at MIT (Boston) and delivered in a distributed manner in more than 75 Fab Labs around the world.
In the 1990s, Neil Gershenfeld gave a course entitled “How to make (almost) Anything” which was an instant success. It was during these courses that the notion of the Fab Lab (short for Fabrication Laboratory) emerged: a place where you can move from the abstract to the concrete by learning how to prototype your ideas. Today there are around 1600 FabLabs worldwide
The Fab Academy is a 20-week teaching program given within the Fab Lab network. It’s an intense program where you’ll discover digital manufacturing techniques. Each week is devoted to one technique. For 1 or 2 days you’ll learn the theory, both during Neil Gershenfeld’s video conference, and at the ULB Fab Lab. Then you’ll have the rest of the week to put it into practice and achieve the objective defined by Neil Gershenfeld. Each set of exercises is documented online and reviewed by ULB technical experts and network mentors.
The final weeks are devoted to completing a personal project incorporating at least 5 of the techniques learned during the course. You will be responsible for its design, production and presentation (website + video). You’ll learn the basics of project management: you’ll draw up a schedule and put in place the steps needed to produce and deploy your project.
The certificate of the Fab Academy will be awarded when each week’s production and the final project meet the program’s requirements. Each week a small number of projects are reviewed directly by Neil Gershenfeld, who will see your work at least once during the course.
At the end of the program, you will therefore have a solid foundation for prototyping (almost) all your ideas, and above all you’ll be joining the close-knit community of Fab Labs worldwide.
ULB : a guarantee of quality
Since 2017, the ULB Fab Lab has been delivering the Fab Academy every 2 years in Brussels (Belgium). The next edition will start in January 2026.
In addition to Neil Gershenfeld’s teaching, a team of experts working at the Fab Lab ULB will be with you every week: they’ll teach you how to use the machines, support you in your projects, and review and comment on your creations. They’ve been through the Fab Academy themselves and know the course inside out. Our team covers a wide range of expertise and is now recognized worldwide for its expertise and the quality of its projects.
The ULB Fab Lab is equipped with all the machines required for the Fab Academy course. You will have privileged access to the site during the course.
Target audience
The program is open to everyone: researchers, students, the curious, entrepreneurs, people undergoing retraining, DIY enthusiasts… whatever your status or qualifications.
The Fab Academy training is particularly well suited to :
- citizens and workers in retraining who want to explore and/or deepen the use of modern fabrication and collaboration techniques to develop their projects.
- young researchers and entrepreneurs in a technical field who want to accelerate the development of their projects by using innovative fabrication and collaboration tools.
- technical staff wishing to complement their manufacturing capabilities with modern digital tools and increase the quality of their work.
Practical information
- Where: Fab Lab ULB, Usquare, Brussels
- When: from end January to mid-June 2026 (classes every Wednesday and Thursday). An optional online bootcamp introducing the program will be offered in mid-January.
- Language: English
- Price: 5500 Euros. The price includes your course registration fee, as well as local use of the ULB Fab Lab and the necessary equipment.
- Registration: Become a student | Fab Academy
- Deadline: December 2025. In case of delay, please contact us.
- Certification: Fab Academy certification
Prerequisites
No prerequisites or knowledge are required. However, a certain ease with computer tools will be a great help.
On the other hand, the Fab Academy is an intense course requiring total commitment over the 5 months of training (expect to be involved 20 hours a week if you’re already comfortable with modeling and electronics, 30 hours if you’re not).
Weekly program
- Principles and Practices
- Project Management
- Computer-Aided Design
- Computer-Controlled Cutting
- Electronics Production
- Computer-Controlled Machining
- Electronics Design
- Molding and Casting or “wild card week”
- Composites
- Embedded Programming
- 3d Scanning and Printing
- Input Devices
- Interface and Application Programming
- Mechanical Design
- Output Devices
- Networking and Communications
- Machine Design
- Applications and Implications
- Project Development
- Invention, Intellectual Property, and Income
note: the program may be subject to certain modifications
For more information :
Class Curriculum | Fab Academy | Fab Academy
Follow our FabAcademy 2024 journey on dedicated page
They were trained at the Fab Lab ULB
- Amy Beaulisch (STEM animator, 2019)
- Quentin Bolsee (VUB Ph.D student, 2020)
- Gilles Decroly (ULB Ph.D student, 2019)
- Robin Wilmart (ULB Ph.D student, 2020)
Any questions ?
We’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have about the Fab Academy program. Come and see us at the Fab Lab ULB or send us an e-mail at fablab@ulb.be.
Site web de la Fab Academy : https://fabacademy.org/