Guess how many ideas were percolating in my head after meeting the friendly team of the Innovation Lab? The official name of this fabrication space for children (and adults too) is the Halifax Discovery Centre Michelin Corporate Foundation Innovation Lab. That was the most official part of the meeting. What followed was much more spontaneous and organic!

Practically unannounced, we’ve met with Colin McGuire, Pamela Juarez and Chris Ditlefsen, who are three innovation instigators, Zabrina Prescott, Visitor Experience Developer, Kyle Brisebois, Astronomer in charge of the immersive projections AND designer manufacturer in residency, Leah Robertson, STEAM instigator, Andrea Durfee, Manager of Marketing & Communications, Steve Turbide, Manager of Science Education, and last but not the least, Dov Bercovici, President & CEO of the museum (we’ve been told he knows the museum inside and out and he could give us a detailed guided tour of the place).

The ideas are popping up! Imagine what a Fab Lab inter-structure with their ecosystem could create… Share the activities that had the most success with young people (less consumables, fewer steps that require more supervision) including the ones from around the world. It could also enable young people to create projects simultaneously in different labs (Valcourt and Halifax??). Prototyping activities developed between laboratories… From a sociological standpoint, Kyle also suggests we draw inspiration from astronomy, where open data and open code enables professionals (NASA and others) and amateurs help one another to unlock the universe’s mysteries.

Tomorrow, Wolfville (NS) and soon after Québec (the city). The fun of gathering ideas is the more we get, the better they become (-: