[2] The mission of shackspace is to foster an environment where people can collaborate on ideas, share knowledge and talents, and explore aspects of life including science, technology, software development, arts and crafts and anything else members express an interest in.
[5][6][7] shackspace is primarily financed through membership dues but has historically accepted public funding[8] and third party sponsorship that have allowed expansion and improvement of rooms, purchase of equipment, and realization of bigger projects.
The purpose of shackspace is to increase knowledge and skills related to computer software, hardware and data networks.
[10] shackspace is also used by other initiatives and groups in and around Stuttgart to host events (tech talks, workshops, project demos, and parties), such as Thunder Talks,[11] Java and Python workshops, public viewing of Google I/O[12] and worldwide HTML5 Campout[13] in collaboration with Google Developer Group Stuttgart, regular meetups of the Linux User Group Stuttgart (LUGS),[14] KDE Code Sprint,[15] NASA International Space Apps Challenge.
There is also the regular weekly night social event, Plenum, that provides a good chance to meet people, talk about projects, and take a look around.
shackspace was used as the backdrop and location for a critical interview by TV station SWR on the ELENA system that was going to be implemented in Germany.