SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘National Fab Lab Net-
work Act of 2013’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) Scientific discoveries and technical innova-
tions are critical to the economic and national secu-
rity of the United States. 
(2) Maintaining the leadership of the United 
States in science, technology, engineering, and math-
ematics will require a diverse population with the 
skills, interest, and access to tools required to ad-
vance these fields. 
(3) Just as earlier digital revolutions in commu-
nications and computation provided individuals with 
the Internet and personal computers, a digital revo-
lution in fabrication will allow anyone to make al-
most anything, anywhere. 
(4) The Center for Bits and Atoms of the Mas-
sachusetts Institute of Technology (CBA) has con-
tributed significantly to the advancement of these 
goals through its work in creating and advancing 
digital fab labs in the United States and abroad. 
(5) CBA’s fab labs provide a model for a new 
kind of national laboratory that links local facilities 
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for advanced manufacturing to expand access and 
empower communities. 
(6) A coordinated national public-private part-
nership will be the most effective way to accelerate 
the provision of this infrastructure for learning 
skills, developing inventions, creating businesses, and 
producing personalized products. 
SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF NATIONAL FAB LAB NETWORK. 
(a) FEDERAL CHARTER.—The Fab Foundation is 
hereby granted a Federal charter as the National Fab Lab 
Network (in this Act referred to as the ‘‘NFLN’’). The 
NFLN shall exist as a nonprofit entity whose purpose is 
to facilitate the creation of a national network of local fab 
labs, and to serve as a resource to assist stakeholders with 
their effective operation. 
(b) MEMBERSHIP
AND ORGANIZATION.—Eligibility 
for membership in the NFLN and the rights and privi-
leges of members are as provided in the constitution and 
bylaws of the NFLN. Directors, officers, and other staff 
of the NFLN, and their powers and duties are as provided 
in the bylaws of the NFLN. 
(c) FUNCTIONS.—The functions of the NFLN shall 
be the following: 
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(1) To serve as the coordinating body for the 
creation of a national network of local fab labs in 
the United States. 
(2) To provide a first point of contact for orga-
nizations and communities seeking to create fab 
labs, providing information, assessing suitability, ad-
vising on the lab lifecycle, and maintaining descrip-
tions of prospective and operating sites. 
(3) To link funders and sites with operational 
entities that can source and install fab labs, provide 
training, assist with operations, account for spend-
ing, and assess impact. 
(4) To perform outreach for individuals and 
communities on the benefits available through the 
NFLN. 
(5) To facilitate use of the NFLN in synergistic 
programs, such as workforce training, job creation, 
research broader impacts, and the production of 
civic infrastructure. 
(6) To offer transparency in the management, 
governance, and operation of the NFLN. 
(d) PURPOSES.—In carrying out its functions, the 
NFLN’s purposes and goals shall be— 
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(1) to create a national network of connected 
local fab labs to empower individuals and commu-
nities in the United States; 
(2) to foster the use of distributed digital fab-
rication tools to promote science, technology, engi-
neering and math skills, increase invention and inno-
vation, create businesses and jobs, and fulfill needs; 
and 
(3) to seek to establish at least one fab lab per 
every 700,000 individuals in the United States in 
the first ten years of its operation, corresponding to 
availability in all 435 Congressional districts. 
(e) DEFINITIONS.—In this section, the term ‘‘fab 
lab’’ shall refer to a facility equipped with an integrated 
suite of fabrication tools to convert digital designs into 
functional physical things, and scanning tools to convert 
physical things into digital designs, as exemplified by 
CBA’s fab labs. These labs shall be available for a range 
of individual and collaborative educational, commercial, 
creative, and social purposes, with the NFLN to provide 
guidelines for their sustainable operation. 
(f) FUNDING.—The NFLN may accept funds from 
private individuals, corporations, government agencies, or 
other organizations. 
Æ 
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