Fab Lab Kaunas serves as a miniature factory of electronics and shall provide students with the opportunity to apply the theoretical knowledge gained during their studies in practice. Facilities at KTU Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering comprise the fully functioning modern laboratories of Industrial Electronics, Avionics and Nanosatellites as well as Electromagnetic Compatibility.
Fab Lab Kaunas is a result of close cooperation between the KTU Faculty of Electronics Engineering and local business enterprises operating in the Electronics Industry. The main aim of the project is to create added value to both the university and the industry.
“Students of Electronics Engineering at KTU graduate with solid theoretical knowledge; however, they typically get the chance to lay their hands on real manufacturing equipment only when they start their employment. As a result, companies must invest huge resources until they can become full-fledged employees. The entire process may take up as much as a year and a half,” commented the CEO of Kitron Mindaugas Sestokas.
Seeking to address this problem, the globally renowned company operating in the field of electronics Kitron decided to invest EUR 120 000 into the infrastructure of the Industrial Electronics Laboratory. This laboratory shall allow students to turn their ideas into factory-level products.
“The industry of electronics engineering is developing extremely fast. Modern technologies are complex and typically very expensive. In order to make all these innovations accessible to students, universities must work in close cooperation with local businesses which can contribute considerably higher financial resources than our universities. In the near future we are planning to provide access to these laboratories not only to our students and researchers, but also to all fans of electronics seeking to test their ideas in practice,” said the Dean of KTU Faculty of Electrical and Electronics Engineering Algimantas Valinevicius.
According to the Dean, in September the Fab Lab Kaunas infrastructure will be supplemented with the special engineering workshop Fab Lab Junior which will be specifically designed for beginners and less trained engineering enthusiasts.
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The first Fab Lab opened its doors back in 2001 as an initiative of the famous Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the United States. Currently there are 638 official Fab Labs worldwide. Fab Lab Kaunas is the first fabrication laboratory in Lithuania.
Fab Lab workshops worldwide vary in terms of their complexity. Some feature only the basic engineering equipment (solder irons, 3D printers and milling machines) while others boast highly sophisticated modern technology designed for cutting edge scientific research.
