25 Years in the Making
Published on August 26th, 2026
For one unforgettable week, the Fab Lab Network came home.
FAB26 Boston brought the international Fab community back to Cambridge, Massachusetts: the birthplace of the Fab Lab movement, to celebrate 25 years of learning, making, experimenting, and building a global network together.
2^10 registered conference participants from 56 countries gathered across MIT, Kendall Square, Fab Hub Kendall, and partner locations throughout Cambridge and Boston. They came as makers, educators, researchers, students, artists, entrepreneurs, industry leaders, community builders, and longtime friends of the network.
But FAB26 was much more than a conference. It was a homecoming, a reunion, and a chance to ask an important question: After 25 years of Fab Labs, what will we make next?
6 Days. 352 Activities. 1 Global Community.
From packed mornings at MIT’s Kresge Auditorium to afternoons filled with workshops, talks, demonstrations, tours, exhibitions, and conversations, FAB26 offered countless ways to participate. Across the full FABx experience, 2,764 people participated, including 1,024 conference registrants, side-event and museum guests, remote FabKids participants, and FAB Festival attendees. The program included 352 activities, while another 8,899 viewers connected through the online livestreams.
The conference program alone featured 148 workshops, 56 Fast Talks, and 110 keynote speakers, creating a mix of hands-on making, research, experimentation, storytelling, and conversations about the future. And if there was one thing participants made clear, it was that they wanted to make. In our post-event survey, 95% of respondents highlighted hands-on making, while 91% said they learned something they could take away from the experience.
Around the World, Back to Boston
One of the most exciting stories of FAB26 was the diversity of the community that arrived in Boston. Participants represented 56 countries and 476 organizations, with 29% coming from the Americas, 27% from Europe, 25% from Asia, 12% from Africa, and 7% from Oceania.
Compared with FAB25 Czechia, participation grew by 18%, online viewership by 38%, and organizational representation by an extraordinary 284%. Most importantly, the geographic distribution of participants became significantly more diverse, demonstrating again that wherever FABx travels, its global community follows.
From FABxLive to Montréal, Bali, Bhutan, Mexico, Czechia, and now Boston, one thing has remained constant: The Fab community shows up.
Beyond the Conference
Some of the most memorable FAB26 experiences happened beyond the main stage.
Participants explored eight research and corporate labs, including the MIT Center for Bits & Atoms, MIT Glass Lab, MIT.nano, LIGO, Autodesk Technology Center Boston, Ginkgo Bioworks, and others. The week also included the Regenerative Futures Challenge, Fab Educators Summit, Kids Lab, ARTeFAB and CBA exhibitions, and community experiences across the region.
The Academany Graduation brought another generation of makers into the story, with 77 graduates celebrating in person and another 50 joining through the live YouTube broadcast.
And FAB26 marked another important beginning: the inauguration of Fab Hub Kendall, establishing a new home for the Fab Lab community in the heart of Kendall Square.
The Moments Behind the Numbers
Of course, numbers only tell part of the story.
FAB26 was also the reunion hug between friends who had not seen each other for years. It was someone touching a new machine for the first time. A conversation in a hallway that became the beginning of a collaboration. Kids making at the MIT Museum. A packed workshop. Graduation celebrations. Music. Recpetions. Late-night conversations. And hundreds of moments that could never fit into a conference schedule.
Fortunately, many of them were captured.
Bringing together photos and videos from across the week, from the opening celebration and daily conference programming to the Neil Gershenfeld Experience, the Academany Graduation and many more... Were you there? Go find yourself, tag your friends, and relive the week.
From the First 25 to the Next 25
FAB26 celebrated an extraordinary history, but the week was never intended to be only about looking back.
Twenty-five years after the first Fab Lab, the network continues to evolve, connecting thousands of labs and communities through open knowledge, digital fabrication, education, entrepreneurship, research, and locally rooted innovation. FAB26 reminded us that the real power of this movement has never been a machine, a building, or even a conference.
It is the people.
The people who teach. The people who make. The people who share what they know. The people who open their labs to their communities. And the people willing to travel across the world to imagine something new together.
And now, we take that energy forward.
Next Stop: FAB27 Oulu 🇫🇮
The journey continues in Oulu, Finland, from August 1–7, 2027, when the global Fab Lab community will come together once again for FAB27. A new city. A new community. New ideas, new technologies, new collaborations, and another opportunity to make the future together.
Boston celebrated where we came from. Oulu will help us continue imagining where we go next.
See you at FAB27 Oulu.
