Hackability, FabLab Turin, FabLab Cuneo, We Do FabLab and Lab121 have formed MakPi-Making Piemonte, a network of for-profit and not-for-profit FabLabs, makerspaces and competence centres that provide businesses and startups with expertise in innovation, fabrication and digital design. The memorandum of understanding was signed by Paolo Bertolino, Secretary General of Unioncamere Piemonte, and Carlo Boccazzi Varotto, head of Hackability and new representative of MakPi.
Alongside the signing, Piedmont was highlighted as one of the Italian and European areas with the highest number of profit and non-profit competence centres, able to offer tools to train technological innovation. The activity of these centres is not only aimed at companies but also at training for schools, SMEs and craftsmen, who are taught the use of new technologies applied to production steps to make them more competitive. This craftsmanship approach to the transmission of skills is developed, first and foremost, by directly involving companies and not by interfacing with them only as mere suppliers.
Guido Bolatto, Secretary General of the Turin Chamber of Commerce, Turin Chamber of Commerce, said: "I have always believed in networking for the actors of the new frontier of innovation from below, the so-called faber, to succeed in bringing small and medium-sized enterprises closer to the activities of the FabLabs".
Paolo Bertolino commented: "What we want to offer and develop with this widespread network is the circulation of skills, together with the possibility of training in the field with the aim of contributing to the growth of the territory. A virtuous network that complements and supplements the PIDs - Punto Impresa Digitale (Digital Enterprise Points), service structures located in the Chambers of Commerce and dedicated to the dissemination of digital culture and practice in micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in all economic sectors. Piedmont is truly at the forefront in this field, a reality that must be enhanced to become a driver of innovation“.