Fab City Awards 2026 | Collective Action for Regenerative Urban Futures — Seed Funding + Global Visibility
About the Fab City Awards
The Fab City Awards is an annual global recognition and funding programme that celebrates initiatives combining design, technology, and civic participation to drive real urban transformation. Now in its 2026 edition, the Awards focus on the theme of Collective Action for Regenerative Futures moving beyond experimentation to demonstrate how community-driven efforts can shape genuine transitions in cities and regions around the world.
The programme is supported by a strong ecosystem of partners including the Fab Foundation, Seeed Studio, Ibero Puebla, Letchee Lab, and Hackster.io, and is evaluated by an international jury of over 30 experts from Fab Labs and institutions across Barcelona, Lima, Reykjavik, MIT Media Lab, and beyond.
The Awards have a distinct thematic history: climate action (2025), implemented impact (2024), and building foundations for local production (2023). The 2026 edition builds on this progression by centering collective action and regenerative, locally productive systems.
2026 Theme — What the Awards Seek
This edition looks for initiatives that are rooted in specific places but capable of spreading globally. The jury is specifically looking for projects that:
- Connect scientific knowledge with local know-how
- Demonstrate real, documented implementation on the ground not just conceptual or experimental work
- Show clear potential to scale across cities and regions
- Contribute to regenerative and locally productive systems through design, technology, and civic participation
Awards, Prizes & Recognition
There are four award categories in total. All winners receive a package of recognition, funding, resources, and access to the global Fab City ecosystem.
Category Winners (3 awards — Community, Technology, and Nature) Each category winner receives €1,000 in seed funding, up to USD $600 in Seeed Studio products, potential lab access, mentoring from the Fab City ecosystem, visibility across media channels, and a free ticket to the FAB26 Summit in Boston (July 2026) to showcase their work.
Overall Impact Award (1 award) The Overall Impact Winner receives €1,500 in seed funding, up to USD $600 in Seeed Studio products, plus all the same recognition benefits as category winners.
Thomas Duggan Award A special distinction for Arts and Design that includes mentoring and an invitation to participate in a makerspace redevelopment project in Cornwall, UK.
Evaluation Dimensions — Three Core Areas
All projects are scored by the jury across three dimensions. Proposals must meaningfully address all three:
1. Community — empowerment, participation, and organisation of communities in the initiative's design and implementation.
2. Technology — accessibility, distributive values, and meaningfulness of the technological approaches used.
3. Nature — contribution to conservation, restoration, and protection of natural systems and ecosystems.
Who Can Apply
This award is broadly open and welcomes applications from a wide range of actors. Eligible applicants include individuals, teams, for-profit organisations, non-profit organisations, public institutions, makerspaces, and NGOs.
There are no geographic restrictions applications are welcome from anywhere in the world.
One key requirement applies to all applicants: The initiative must already have been piloted or implemented, with available documentation to demonstrate this. Purely conceptual or theoretical proposals are not eligible.
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 29 April 2026
- Evaluation Period: 30 April – 26 May 2026
- Winners Announcement: 3 June 2026
- Winners Showcase: 27–31 July 2026 at the FAB26 Summit, Boston, USA
Click HERE to visit the official website