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FabFest 2025 | Building Local Innovation With FabLabs
- Field Ready
- Sep 12
- 2 min read
Updated: Sep 12
When a Cebu student wheeled in his prototype — a mini packaging factory built from scraps and sensors — the crowd at FabFest 2025 leaned forward. His idea wasn’t just clever; it was a glimpse of how makers can turn everyday ingenuity into solutions with global relevance.
That’s what FabFest is about: turning bold ideas into real-world fixes.
Held at Cebu Institute of Technology–University (CIT-U) and co-organized by Department of Trade and Industry Region 7, CIT-U, and Field Ready, the festival brought together makers, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), global experts, and government leaders under the theme “Bridging Gaps Through Innovation and Collaboration.”
Innovation With a Human Face
The Fabsiklaban 2025 competition spotlighted grassroots solutions to urgent challenges in health, energy, and education. Prototypes ranged from a modular furniture set designed for coastal resilience to a miniaturized factory-in-a-box that could transform small-scale livelihoods.
Meanwhile, in Kenya, FabLab Winam co-designed a rugged vehicle seat with Toyota engineers, tested on rough terrain to meet the realities of rural transport. It’s proof that FabLabs can go beyond tinkering — they’re solving problems that matter.
Technology as a Tool, Not the Star
CIT-U launched the first AI-integrated FabLab in the Philippines, embedding machine learning into prototyping and design workflows. But what excited participants wasn’t the buzzword of AI — it was what it meant: faster, smarter tools that MSMEs, students, and community makers can actually use.
Global Meets Local
Voices from Japan and Australia joined Filipino innovators to swap lessons from the field. The thread running through them all? Technology only creates impact when it’s anchored in people’s lives.
As Charles Barrete, Field Ready’s Global Technical Lead, put it:
What struck me at FabFest was the way conversations flowed — from grassroots ideas to global collaboration. That’s the real strength of this ecosystem: connecting the local and the global so innovation can thrive and be impactful.
Collaboration Is the Secret Sauce
From breakout workshops on aquatic drones to Fab City’s vision of circular economies, FabFest 2025 buzzed with cross-pollination. Students worked alongside government officials, MSMEs alongside global tech leaders. The festival proved that FabLabs aren’t isolated workbenches — they’re bridges between technology and community.
Looking Ahead
Next year, FabFest 2026 will be hosted by FabLab UP Cebu, marking ten years of FabLabs in Cebu Province. A decade in, FabLabs have grown from experiments into engines of creativity — and the next ten years will decide just how far local solutions can go in shaping a more resilient, connected world.
Field Ready will be right there, working with partners like the Department of Trade and Industry, universities, and FabLabs to strengthen local manufacturing capacity, mentor innovators, and move prototypes from idea to impact. With our experience in local production, rapid prototyping, and humanitarian innovation, we are ready to help accelerate and incubate hardware startups — turning bold ideas into solutions that matter.
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