ONL'FAIT

Their core work

ONL'FAIT is a Geneva-based association operating at the intersection of maker culture, STEAM education, and social inclusion. They run or support fablab and maker-space activities designed to engage citizens — particularly underrepresented groups — in hands-on science and technology. Their H2020 work spans open schooling initiatives, urban regeneration through creative industry hubs, and bridging the gender gap in technology through opportunity ecosystems. In practice, they bring community-level fabrication and education expertise into large European consortia focused on citizen empowerment and urban innovation.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

ONL'FAIT entered H2020 in 2019 with a focus on open schooling and citizen science engagement (OSHub). By 2020-2021, their work shifted toward more targeted applications: urban industrial transformation through maker culture (CENTRINNO) and gender-inclusive fablab ecosystems (shemakes.eu). The trajectory shows a move from broad science education toward specialized community-driven fabrication and inclusion programs.

ONL'FAIT is moving from general STEAM education toward specialized maker-space programs that address social inclusion and urban transformation — expect future work combining fabrication, gender equity, and community-driven innovation.

How they like to work

ONL'FAIT operates exclusively as a participant, never leading consortia, which positions them as a reliable delivery partner rather than a project architect. With 52 unique partners across just 3 projects, they consistently work in large consortia (averaging 17+ partners per project). This suggests they are comfortable operating within complex multi-partner setups and contributing specialized community-engagement and fablab expertise to broader initiatives.

Despite only 3 projects, ONL'FAIT has built a remarkably wide network of 52 partners across 17 countries, reflecting their participation in large pan-European consortia. Their Geneva base gives them access to both French-speaking and broader European networks.

What sets them apart

ONL'FAIT occupies a distinctive niche as a Geneva-based maker/fablab association that bridges grassroots community engagement with EU-scale research projects. Unlike universities or research institutes, they bring hands-on fabrication and citizen participation infrastructure — the kind of on-the-ground maker-space capacity that many consortia need but few academic partners can provide. Their combination of fablab operations, gender inclusion work, and open schooling experience makes them a strong partner for any project requiring real community-level engagement rather than theoretical outreach.

Highlights from their portfolio

• shemakes.eu
  Directly addresses gender gap in maker/tech spaces through fablab-based opportunity ecosystems, reflecting their core identity as a community fabrication organization
• CENTRINNO
  Their largest project by far (EUR 742,425 of EUR 1M+ total funding), focused on transforming industrial areas into innovation hubs — a 4-year initiative running through 2024