What the Maker Lab is · at CIC Berlin

The Workshop

From idea to working prototype. The SIB Maker Lab is where founders from the SIB programmes build their physical product — with tools, a safety induction and a team by your side.

01 — The Maker Lab

A place and tools for everyone who builds.

The Maker Lab is the workshop of the Startup Incubator Berlin — the place for founders developing something you can hold in your hand: hardware, deep tech, IoT and sensors, MedTech housings, trade-fair demos. Four areas are set up for that — 3D printing, electronics, wood & metal, and textile & finish.

It is the sister of the SIB Media Lab: same mechanics, a different promise. The Media Lab helps you tell your story; the Maker Lab helps you build your prototype. You do the work yourself, learning by doing — we run the induction, supervise and keep the equipment ready.

What the lab is not

Not an open public FabLab. No walk-in crowd, no membership, no hobby offer. Access runs through the SIB programmes and an induction.
Not a programme. Money, coaching and stipends sit with the programmes on the main SIB site. The lab provides space, equipment, induction and rental. The rule of thumb: lab = place & tools, programme = money & coaching.
Not contract manufacturing. We do not produce for you. You build it yourself — we run the induction and are there when you need us.

02 — Who it is for

Three who build here.

Three typical paths through the workshop — and the induction level that comes with each. The examples show what the lab is for; which equipment ends up on the floor is decided by the first inventory.

Persona A · Induction Yellow

MedTech founder prints a housing

He is developing a handheld diagnostic device and needs a new housing iteration after iteration. In the 3D-printing area he prints variants, checks the fit and prints again. After the equipment induction he works on his own.

Persona B · Green → Yellow

IoT team solders a sensor board

The team is building a connected sensor node. In the electronics area they solder, measure and flash until the board runs. The workbenches need only the basic induction; individual devices need a short one of their own.

Persona C · Red — supervised only

Hardware founder mills a trade-fair demo

In a few weeks she needs a presentable demo chassis. The large machines in the wood & metal area only run in supervised time slots — from setup to the last cut, we are there.

Green, yellow and red describe our induction model — not individual machines. They explain how access to the equipment works; the only binding document is the usage agreement you accept before you start working.

03 — Location & Access

At CIC, under the roof of the HWR.

The Maker Lab is an offer of the Startup Incubator Berlin — the startup center of HWR Berlin — and sits at CIC Berlin, Lohmühlenstraße 65, 12435 Berlin. Together with the Media Lab it forms a lab duo there, under the shared SIB×CIC roof.

Access is available first to participants in the SIB programmes and to HWR members interested in founding — after a request and an induction. Fixed opening and supervision hours will follow; until then it is by arrangement.

The matching programmes — with money, coaching and stipends — are on the main SIB site: startup-incubator.berlin ↗

External too? In principle, externals are welcome as well. We clarify the conditions and the exact usage framework individually, as soon as it is in place — we deliberately do not yet give binding prices or commitments for external use. Feel free to write to us anyway if you are interested.

04 — Your way into the lab

Your way into the lab runs through an SIB programme.

Rule of thumb: money & coaching come with the programme — space & tools here in the lab. You first join an SIB programme; that opens the door to the workshop. The programmes live on the main SIB site:

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