Forbes reports on global hackerspace and that if you need a place, a space to work on your invention, and you want to be around like-minds, then you should hunt for a hackerspace. 

This is where Hackerspaces.org wiki  lists nearly every available, active hackerspace around the world and there are approximately 936 labs or hackerspaces worldwide listed.

• USA has 365 different spaces
• Netherland has  25 
•  Canada 26 
• Japan has 4 
•  India has 12
•  Germany amasses 104 
• African continent  has 10+ ( 2 in Kenya).
•  United Kingdom 36 

If you are looking in Scotland, it's a rather sad that there are only four where the country has 19 university organisations.

Heading the list is Aberdeen and Becycle, where a free bicycle repair, hacking and lending community project is underway.

Following up is Edinburgh's Hack Lab  shared spaces for people who mess around with technology for fun. Then Glasgow distinguishes itself with both with the Electron Club  for people interested in things like Free Open Source Software, DIY culture, circuit bending, hardware hacking, computer recycling, streaming, audio and video editing, green technologies, and amateur radio can meet, use equipment, and share and disseminate their skills and ideas. Also under development it seems is Glasgowhackspace,  subtly suggesting that Glasgow Whacks better!!

While understandably Dundee is probably too busy gaming to bother with hacking;  and the UHI is still getting its very scattered geographical act together and St Andrews is a bit too chilly to indulge in the softer side of hack habits, just what is the West of Scotland University playing at?  And have the Borders simply abandonned the idea of Apps and software? 

Dismissives should think again

Hack dismissives, should note that in the US, Peiter "Mudge" Zatko,(left)  member of the legendary L0pht hacker group, announced the launch in August of a new programme at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) aimed at funding hacker spaces and research in cybersecurity reported DarkReading

Mudge appointed as  the program manager for the information innovation office at DARPA for a year, said the idea behind the new DARPA-RA-11-52 initiative is to fast-track security research among independent researchers and small, boutique security firms. The programme is called Cyber Fast Track.

"It's time to start funding hacker spaces, labs, and boutique security companies to make it easier to compete with large government contractors" for research money, he said. "When I was at L0pht, we all had day jobs and did our [research] in the off-hours of the night … I want a lot of people who are doing cool research work all day long to not have to have day jobs and do their big work at night."

Mudge says the new DARPA-RA-11-52 project will aim to fund somewhere between 20  to 100 projects per year, with a straightforward proposal template that streamlines and simplifies the traditionally onerous application process for DARPA funding. In what is really fast tract, the contracts will be awarded around 10 days from their submission.

"And you get to keep your IP," he said.

Its been  preptty impossible for hackers to interface with DARPA with the previous model and almost unthinkable for the UK ones to inface with MOD one suspects.

 "The way the government is set up, it's almost impossible for small boutique firms and hackers to actually say, 'I'm doing cool research work, and how do I get funding without giving up the IP to venture capitalists or ownership,' or getting purchased by a large government contractor and your company basically being gutted," he said.

DARPA's Mudge is in the process of traveling around the country visiting hackerspaces and briefing them on the new fast-track program. "What's good for this community is good for DARPA," he said.

In the UK Peter Morrison, CEO of Bohemia Interactive Simulations, has talked through the development history of the company's Virtual Battlespace Simulator 2 reports Defence Management , but what's so wrong with funding cyber security from the ingenious hacking community? 

The UK should fund security as well as games

The  Ministry of Defence (MOD, not Mod video gaming)  has borrowed the odd leaf from DARPA before.

It  would be  one neat way to help to grow employment and promote inate skills at the youth level,  as well as giving software some added glamour at the schools  level by including security as well as the gaming approach.