Promotion of Social Innovation through Fab Labs. The Case of ProteinLab UTEM in Chile

Macarena Valenzuela-Zubiaur, Héctor Torres-Bustos, Mónica Arroyo-Vázquez and Pablo Ferrer-Gisbert
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Macarena Valenzuela-Zubiaur: Foresight and Technological Innovation Program, ProteinLab UTEM, Metropolitan Technological University (UTEM), Santiago P.O. Box 7800003, Chile
Héctor Torres-Bustos: Foresight and Technological Innovation Program, ProteinLab UTEM, Metropolitan Technological University (UTEM), Santiago P.O. Box 7800003, Chile
Mónica Arroyo-Vázquez: Project Management, Innovation and Sustainability Research Center (PRINS), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain
Pablo Ferrer-Gisbert: Project Management, Innovation and Sustainability Research Center (PRINS), Universitat Politècnica de València, 46022 Valencia, Spain

Sustainability, 2021, vol. 13, issue 16, 1-19

Abstract: Fab Labs as manufacturing laboratories that stimulate innovation and collaboration are nowadays proliferating within universities. Given the new social challenges, framed within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), we formulate the following research question: Are Fab Labs an effective tool for the promotion of social innovation from universities? To answer this question, a mixed analysis has been carried out focusing on the case of ProteinLab UTEM. The approach aims to generate a model for the promotion of social innovation from universities through Fab Labs, linking the quadruple helix actors. The objective of this model is to show how Fab Labs can become an effective instrument to promote social innovation from universities. The contribution of this article lies in linking Fab Labs with social innovation through the university’s third mission. Our approach considers Fab Labs as an instrument for the development of social innovations within the university, which contribute, through the third mission, to the social and sustainable development of its environment. As a result of this research, a model is presented for the development of social innovation from universities through Fab Labs. Our research concludes that Fab Labs are an effective instrument for the promotion of social innovation from universities.

Keywords: fab lab; entrepreneurship; university strategy; social innovation; co-creation; digital manufacturing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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