April 2, 2021 – Thales Alenia Space announced today that it has set up a new FabLab (fabrication laboratory) at its plant in Charleroi, Belgium. This approach reflects the company’s ongoing digital transformation to anticipate disruptive advances in the space industry. Following the company’s first FabLabs in Toulouse, Cannes and Rome, this latest addition is tasked with stimulating innovation and supporting the Charleroi plant’s push to spur sustainable growth in Belgium. Open to all Thales Alenia Space employees, the FabLab is an idea incubator that fosters creativity by providing access to rapid prototyping tools, both hardware and software. Above all, it’s a forum that facilitates discussions and the sharing of ideas to complement the current industrial organization. Charleroi’s FabLab is organized in different zones: brainstorming, mechanical and electronic fabrication, 3D printing and digital design. All of these activities, whether professional or even personal (provided the participant complies with sharing and transparency requirements), involve taking ideas through the prototyping, experimental, test, simulation and fabrication phases.