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Innovation Studio
Events, lectures and workshops

Innovation Studio

Industry-engagement and our strong maker culture puts collaboration at the heart of everything we do.

Events, lectures and workshops

We host a series of masterclass workshops and lectures for industry professionals to inspire innovation and develop new capabilities within a creative discipline.

Our workshops and lectures are free for Dorset Industry, SMEs, start–ups, sole traders, and social enterprises. If attending a workshop, a short registration form will need to be completed along with a short proposal of your idea.

Explore our events below and the types of classes we offer. To book your place on future workshops or lectures get in touch with our Innovation Team.

Get in touch

Previous Events

A Christmas display featuring several model reindeer and decorated Christmas trees

Explore the types of workshops and lectures that we offer

Each Meet the Maker event is hosted by a Dorset business with an introductory talk on their practice, followed by a workshop activity. Previous events have covered woodwork, 3D printing for prototyping, ceramics, prosthetic design for media and performance and letterpress printing.

These events are free for Dorset industry and are supported under our European Regional Development Fund programme.

If you're a Dorset practitioner and would like to host your own Meet the Maker, please email the team at innovation@aub.ac.uk.

Our Open Lectures are a series of events sharing specialist knowledge on topics of design thinking and creative practice. Each lecture is led by a specialist guest-speaker and we welcome guests on campus for a pre-lecture drink to meet our staff and explore our current exhibition in TheGallery. Guests also have the option to attend online via Zoom.

These lectures are free to attend and are open to members of the public. The lectures support the university's commitment to its civic agenda.

The usual event timings are:

Event	Time
Pre-event drinks	18.00
Open Lecture starts	18.30
Open Lecture ends	19.30

Our Start-It workshops have been crafted to help you to move from innovative idea through to a workable concept. Our aim is to help you understand the design process and start to use it to turn your idea into reality.

Supported by a dedicated AUB team of designers and makers, this one-day workshop is ideal for start-ups, budding entrepreneurs and practitioners wishing to get expert feedback on their idea. Part One will help you understand where you are in the design process and how to take your ideas forward. Part Two will help you transform your idea towards a proof of concept. Participants will be able to keep copies of the resources used and apply for ongoing access to our AUB maker workshop, including digital fabrication lab.

Eligibility

These workshops are free for Dorset SMEs, start-ups, sole traders and social enterprises. A short registration form will need to be completed along with a short proposal of your idea.

Do you know your PDF from your STL? What is the process for creating a 3D solid design?

Find out at our Make-It Workshop, created specifically to support design-led research and prototyping needs for industry. During this highly practical one-day programme, you will understand the capabilities of the latest fabrication tools and what you need to work with them.

Delivered by AUB 3D designers, we will help to demystify the key terminology surrounding digital fabrication and guide you through the steps required to undertake your own prototyping project. Tour our digital fabrication lab, which includes five-axis and three-axis machining, CNC routing and SLS 3D printing facilities which are available for free access to Dorset businesses and practitioners.

Make it workshops are organised as group events. If you would like to enquire about a bespoke workshop for your business, please contact us via email.