Rose: financial stability

Artilect is an association. Anyone can use the facilities in our Fablab at an affordable price. All the members love Artilect and consider it as their second home. But, the revenue that it earns from machines isn’t enough to cover all the expenses. It needs different strategies to generate more revenue to ensure its service and promise to its community.

Thorn: apply new business model

• We need new business activities. For example, event organization, professional training courses, and team building. For the event, Artilect needs to have the facilities to respond to the requests of its clients - the audio system, the adjustable light system, the video system, and so on.
• About the professional training course! French is known for its long and complicated administration work. A lot of paperwork! A certificate issued by the government is necessary before a learning center proposes this service. To maintain the certificate, an audit every 18 months is obligatory.
• Team building is often a requested activity. With our “savoir-faire’’, the programs we set up are related to the machines in Fablab in hopes of recruiting more members. How can we show the philosophy of Fablab and the possibilities for our machines to our clients? Can we turn the participant from a non-maker to a future member?

Bud: how to make things done

• The installation of the facilities for the event costs fortunes. Luckily, some members of Artilect have the competencies in these fields. They contribute their time to building the systems after working for their Fablab.
• To obtain the certificate to give the course, we request services from experts to help us prepare the document, know how to follow government regulations, and be ready for the audit. A long process, I can say!
• How to make participants fall in love with “making things by themselves” in a few hours is a challenge. We design several programs at different levels. We propose the game according to the profiles of the participants. The feedback from the clients helps us to improve our service<

To sum up, the new activities are on track. It needs time to reach the result we expect.