Fab Lab ESAN is the first digital fabrication center within a business university in Peru and the only one officially recognized as a Technological Innovation Center (CIT) by CONCYTEC, the National Council for Science, Technology, and Technological Innovation. As a member of the global Fab Lab Network, created by MIT’s Center for Bits and Atoms, it remains at the forefront of emerging technologies and global innovation practices. Fab Lab ESAN integrates digital fabrication, innovation methodologies, and entrepreneurship into higher education through hands-on workshops, academic courses, applied research, and innovation challenges. Students and faculty develop prototypes, theses, patents, and research projects with real-world impact, enriched by interdisciplinary collaboration. Beyond the academic setting, it provides strategic support to entrepreneurs and companies through services such as prototyping, technology scouting, intellectual property consulting, training, startup incubation, and access to funding. These efforts promote meaningful knowledge transfer among academia, industry, and society. What truly sets Fab Lab ESAN apart is the open and inclusive community it fosters—a space where students become makers, professors become mentors, and entrepreneurs become agents of change. Through the Maker Community, participants remain engaged beyond the classroom, continuing to co-create and grow. Our mission goes beyond the lab: we foster creativity, promote agile prototyping, and connect people, knowledge, and ideas. We open up innovation, inspire action, and equip our academic and entrepreneurial communities with the skills, mindset, and networks to drive purposeful, sustainable change.
Finalist
Innovation and Entrepreneurship Activators of the Year Award
Fab Lab ESAN | ESAN University
Finalist Innovation and Entrepreneurship Activators of the Year Award
ESAN University - Peru
" Learning and collaborative space fostering our innovative and entrepreneurial spirit"
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Summary
Key People
Jaime Serida Ph.D.
Rector
Rectorate,
ESAN University
Rene Cornejo Ph.D.
Director
Directorate of Innovation and Information Technology,
ESAN University
Naldi Carrión Ph.D.(c)
General Coordinator
R&D Labs – Fab Lab ESAN,
ESAN University
Victor Pimentel Eng.
Project Coordinator
R&D Labs – Fab Lab ESAN,
ESAN University
Jhasmin Ayala B.Eng.
Academic and Research Assistant
Fab Lab ESAN,
ESAN University
Luis Carrasco MBA
Academic Coordinator
Fab Lab ESAN,
ESAN University
Jorge Valerio Ms.
Operations Manager
Fab Lab ESAN,
ESAN University
Marks Cálderon M.Sc.
Program Director – Professor and Researcher
Undergraduate Program,
ESAN University
Jhonnatan Horna Ph.D.(c)
Professor and Researcher
Graduate Program,
ESAN University
Nancy Matos Ph.D.
Professor and Researcher
Graduate Program,
ESAN University
Yabed Contreras MBA
Coordinator and Professor
R&D Labs ,
ESAN University
Acknowledgements
We would like to extend our special thanks to The Fab Foundation, whose global network has been essential in keeping us connected to international knowledge, trends, and emerging technologies. Through this collaboration, we have actively participated in various initiatives, such as organizing the Fab Academy Instructors Bootcamp in Lima, an intensive training space for digital fabrication educators. We have also taken part in innovative events that strengthen the maker community and promote applied creativity on a global scale.
We also extend our gratitude to ESAN University for its institutional support, strategic vision, and commitment to a more open, hands-on, and reality-connected educational model. Its strong backing in integrating digital fabrication, innovation, and entrepreneurship into education has been key to making this project a reality and paving the way for a high-impact academic and technological ecosystem.
Images
Visit from international Fab Lab representatives at Fab Lab ESAN
Knowledge exchange session with international Fab Lab members at Fab Lab ESAN
Project showcase held at Fab Lab ESAN
Visit of an international diplomatic authority to Fab Lab ESAN
Open Lab Day: students, companies, and community members exploring 3D printing projects
Validation of our utility model patent: a device designed to support athletic training.
Fabrication of face shields to protect frontline personnel during the COVID-19 pandemic
Company representatives engaged in an innovation training workshop at Fab Lab ESAN
One of our early Raspberry Jam events, bringing together students, makers, and tech enthusiasts
Educational innovation in action: students validate our patented chemistry learning tool
Undergraduate students developing their prototypes for the Digital Fabrication course at Fab Lab ESAN.
IMPACT STORY
Impacting lifes
From Crisis to Collective Action:
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fab Lab ESAN team faced one of the greatest challenges in our history: protecting those on the frontlines. In a time of uncertainty and scarcity, we chose to act. Driven by a deep sense of service and a strong commitment to our community, we activated our digital design and fabrication capabilities to produce and distribute over 17,000 face shields for healthcare workers, security forces, and volunteers across the country.
We transformed our lab into a center of hope and collective action. Each shield delivered was the result of long, intense days of collaboration—where we came together, combining knowledge, effort, and heart. What we delivered was not just protection; we wove a network of solidarity, innovation, and shared purpose.
That experience had a profound impact on our team. We learned that to innovate is also to respond with empathy, to apply technology with a human focus, and to join forces in solving real-world problems. The crisis brought us together, and that unity became a driver of transformation.
Today, we continue to co-create solutions alongside companies, entrepreneurs, and communities. As a Technology and Innovation Center recognized by CONCYTEC, we channel our capabilities into urgent and sustainable challenges.
This story is not only ours. It is the story of a team that, in the face of crisis, chose to collaborate, create, and care. Because when innovation is born from solidarity, what we build is more than technology—it’s hope.
LEARNINGS
Lessons learned
One of the most meaningful lessons in our journey has been understanding that genuine innovation emerges from the will to transform and the commitment of people. It is this collective drive, supported by a clear institutional vision, that makes it possible to rethink how we teach, learn, and engage with the community.
Fab Lab ESAN is the result of a bold decision by our university to embrace a more open, practical, and reality-driven educational model. That trust enabled structural transformations: the development of ESAN’s first university patent, the integration of the Fab Lab into the engineering curriculum, and the creation of pathways for other disciplines to adopt digital fabrication and innovation aligned with their own fields. Faculty members became leaders in emerging technologies, and institutional policies were implemented to encourage student participation in research, development, and innovation.
Another key insight was learning that knowledge grows stronger when it is shared. By opening the lab to entrepreneurs, companies, and external partners, we created a collaborative network where everyone learns and builds together. Our maker community remains active beyond the classroom, fostering an ecosystem that lives on through shared projects. We believe that innovation and entrepreneurship are not isolated acts, but collective processes that thrive on trust, shared purpose, and creative freedom.
Our advice to those seeking to build similar ecosystems: invest in people, listen to your community, and create spaces where collaboration, experimentation, and failure are part of the journey. Change is not imposed—it is built. And it begins when an institution dares to trust.
FUTURE PLANS
What's coming?
Our journey with Fab Lab ESAN has taught us that purpose-driven innovation transforms realities. Thanks to the achievements and lessons learned, we are now leading a new phase at our university: the creation of R&D Labs, a unit within the Directorate of Innovation and IT that oversees and integrates all the university’s laboratories dedicated to Research, Development, and Innovation (R&D+i). This new structure, inspired by the successful Fab Lab model, is being implemented across the campus.
This initiative aims to transform new laboratories into spaces of innovation—bridging disciplines, fostering technological entrepreneurship, and actively engaging with the business and social environment. Each lab will be guided toward official recognition as a Research, Development, or Innovation Center (R&D+i) by CONCYTEC, Peru’s national council for science and technology. This recognition will unlock access to strategic partnerships, collaborative projects, and tax incentives for companies, while strengthening institutional sustainability and expanding the global reach of our innovation ecosystem.
As part of this vision, we will launch a Technology Transfer Unit to support intellectual property protection, funding for innovation, and the scalability of solutions developed within the university.
This step not only expands our infrastructure but also amplifies a strategic vision: seeing the university as a driver of change. We are building a network of labs that inspire, empower, and transform—turning research into action and enabling our ideas to create real impact nationally and internationally. This initiative reflects our institutional commitment to redefining higher education through innovation with real-world purpose.
