Projects

Smart Citizens Programme

The Smart Citizens Programme is opening Fab Lab South West to communities. We're supporting citizens in developing skills to design and make their own objects, products and artwork using digital fabrication.

The programme is part of the wider iMayflower Project, we deliver events, workshops and training in digital design and fabrication in FabLab South West. The programme activities focus on various themes such as conservation and environment, art and creativity, experimental manufacturing, FabCity, urban innovations and more.

Empowering citizens with digital technologies skills and connecting ideas, people and enterprises in order to unlock the potential of citizen makers building and presenting innovative solutions for the people and the planet.

The programme is delivered through three key pillars:

Engagement Programme

An outreach programme to engage with communities through online webinars, community meet-ups and tech talks as well as Fab Lab Plymouth visits to introduce digital design and fabrication to curious citizens, students, aspiring entrepreneurs, artists, makers and SMEs.

Citizens Lab

Digital fabrication facility open to everyone providing access to advanced manufacturing technologies, workshops in how to design and make almost anything and training with accreditation in digital design and digital fabrication. This space is focused on experimenting and learning digital making skills through the smart citizens themes.

Sustainable Design Initiative

Series of talks, workshops and support about making products with techniques that are digitally enabled and increasingly local. This initiative is creating a platform that brings together local authority urban planners and procurement leads with local citizens to specifically consider the placemaking agenda within Plymouth.

Throughout the project, we will collect and share information about the resources and material, based on availability, rarity of resources, how to use local and non-local resources and how to reduce waste and pollution following the circular economy principles.

iMayflower Project

The iMayflower consortium project will leverage the Mayflower 400 Culture and Heritage programme as a platform from which to launch a sustainable step change in Plymouth’s creative economy and make Plymouth a more attractive place to live, work and visit.

Partner Information

iMayfower partners include; Plymouth City Council (lead), Arts University Plymouth, Real Ideas Organisation, University of Plymouth, Crowdfunder, Creative England, Plymouth Culture,

The iMayflower project has been supported by the Cultural Development Fund. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport funds the Cultural Development Fund which is administered by Arts Council England.


Please contact the Development Team if you wish to discuss any aspect of the Smart Citizens Programme.

projects@aup.ac.uk

SCP logos
Smart Citizens Programme Smart Citizens Programme

Smart Cit­i­zens Programme

The Smart Cit­i­zens Pro­gramme is open­ing Fab Lab South West to com­mu­ni­ties. We’re sup­port­ing cit­i­zens in devel­op­ing skills to design and make their own objects, prod­ucts and art­work using dig­i­tal fabrication.
The Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab The Environmental Futures and Big Data Impact Lab

The Envi­ron­men­tal Futures and Big Data Impact Lab

The Envi­ron­men­tal Futures and Big Data Impact Lab is a part­ner­ship of sev­en Devon-based organ­i­sa­tions, work­ing togeth­er to help busi­ness­es analyse data to cre­ate new prod­ucts and ser­vices, focus­ing on safe­guard­ing the environment.
Ashnihilation: augmented reality for ecological storytelling Ashnihilation: augmented reality for ecological storytelling

Ash­ni­hi­la­tion: aug­ment­ed real­i­ty for eco­log­i­cal storytelling

An aug­ment­ed real­i­ty art­work by Dr Tom Milnes, co-cre­at­ed with stu­dents and sup­port­ed by Fab Lab South West 3D scan­ning, that engaged the pub­lic with ash dieback through sev­en twi­light per­for­mances on Ply­mouth Hoe, Devon, and mobile AR access city-wide.
Barnaby’s Brewhouse: capturing CO₂ for a circular brewing economy Barnaby’s Brewhouse: capturing CO₂ for a circular brewing economy

Barnaby’s Brew­house: cap­tur­ing CO₂ for a cir­cu­lar brew­ing economy

Devon-based Barnaby’s Brew­house worked with Fab Lab South West to design and pro­to­type a sys­tem that cap­tures and puri­fies CO₂ from beer fer­men­ta­tion. The inno­va­tion reduces reliance on fos­sil fuel-derived CO₂, cuts costs, and opens new pos­si­bil­i­ties for reuse in food and agriculture.
Agrikinetics: turning miscanthus grass into sustainable packaging Agrikinetics: turning miscanthus grass into sustainable packaging

Agri­ki­net­ics: turn­ing mis­cant­hus grass into sus­tain­able packaging

Fab Lab South West worked with Dorset-based Agri­ki­net­ics to test whether mis­cant­hus grass pulp could replace import­ed paper and card in pack­ag­ing. The project proved the con­cept, pro­duc­ing moulds for fruit car­tons and sup­port­ing a grant to scale local production.
SageTech: recycling anaesthetic gases to cut emissions in healthcare SageTech: recycling anaesthetic gases to cut emissions in healthcare

SageTech: recy­cling anaes­thet­ic gas­es to cut emis­sions in healthcare

SageTech part­nered with Fab Lab South West to pro­to­type com­po­nents for an anaes­thet­ic gas cap­ture and recy­cling sys­tem — accel­er­at­ing R&D from con­cept to pilot and sup­port­ing a low­er-car­bon future for oper­at­ing theatres.
Atkinson Architects: enhancing heritage renovation with LiDAR and model-making Atkinson Architects: enhancing heritage renovation with LiDAR and model-making

Atkin­son Archi­tects: enhanc­ing her­itage ren­o­va­tion with LiDAR and model-making

Fab Lab South West sup­port­ed Atkin­son Archi­tects with LiDAR scan­ning and archi­tec­tur­al mod­el-mak­ing for a Grade I‑listed ren­o­va­tion on the Dart­ing­ton Estate, deliv­er­ing dig­i­tal pre­ci­sion and tan­gi­ble pro­to­types to inform con­ser­va­tion planning.
Laura Quinn: innovating wearable glass with digital design Laura Quinn: innovating wearable glass with digital design

Lau­ra Quinn: inno­vat­ing wear­able glass with dig­i­tal design

Irish glass artist and Arts Uni­ver­si­ty Ply­mouth alum­na Lau­ra Quinn col­lab­o­rat­ed with Fab Lab South West to cre­ate mod­u­lar, wear­able glass art using bespoke 3D-print­ed con­nec­tors, blend­ing tra­di­tion­al glass­blow­ing with dig­i­tal fab­ri­ca­tion for more sus­tain­able, adapt­able design.
AYCH - Improving lives with design and digital fabrication AYCH - Improving lives with design and digital fabrication

AYCH — Improv­ing lives with design and dig­i­tal fabrication

The EU fund­ed Atlantic Cre­ative Youth Hubs Project builds a social inno­va­tion mod­el for young peo­ple sup­port­ing social entre­pre­neur­ship, employ­ment and edu­ca­tion in the cre­ative and cul­tur­al industries.
Art & Energy: breathing new life into solar design Art & Energy: breathing new life into solar design

Art & Ener­gy: breath­ing new life into solar design

Art & Ener­gy CIC part­nered with Fab Lab South West at Arts Uni­ver­si­ty Ply­mouth in Ply­mouth, South West Eng­land, to explore how pho­to­volta­ic pan­els can be cut, engraved and artis­ti­cal­ly fin­ished with­out sac­ri­fic­ing per­for­mance. The col­lab­o­ra­tion demon­strates how cre­ative tech­nol­o­gy can accel­er­ate pub­lic accep­tance of green infra­struc­ture by mak­ing it desir­able as well as functional.
Made@EU Made@EU

Made@EU

Bridg­ing the dig­i­tal divide that hin­ders the use of dig­i­tal fab­ri­ca­tion knowl­edge and tech­nolo­gies in the Euro­pean cul­tur­al and cre­ative sectors.
Fab Lab in schools Fab Lab in schools

Fab Lab in schools

We want to inspire dig­i­tal mak­ers, devel­op dig­i­tal mak­ing skills in young peo­ple, and sup­port the dig­i­tal agen­da with­in the curriculum.
Skills Support for the Workforce Skills Support for the Workforce

Skills Sup­port for the Workforce

Our Skills Sup­port for the Work­force project invit­ed busi­ness­es, artists and small traders into our Fab Lab to take part in a course that trained them how to use the kit and then how to adapt it to their practice.
HackFest HackFest

Hack­Fest

Part of Ven­turefest South West, Hack­Fest is a coun­ty-wide project for young peo­ple to come togeth­er to cre­ate prod­uct pro­to­types that respond to the issues of the future.