Makerspaces and “making” are dramatically changing the entrepreneurial landscape by enabling the average person to readily create products that they have imagined and designed themselves.
Stephen “Skip” Carter, Co-Director of the New Jersey Makerspace Association, said, “Imagine a place where you can develop the next best mouse trap, work on improving your car, or learn a food business using a commercial kitchen. That is the range of business opportunities that are now more accessible via a makerspace.”
Essentially, a makerspace gives entrepreneurs the ability to use high-end fabrication equipment to create end-products without the traditional manufacturing processes of the past. This is micro manufacturing, according to Carter. “People can design a product on easy to use software and actually manufacture that using a machine in a facilitypreviously not available to them,” said Carter.
These machines can be laser cutters and 3-D printers, as well as kitchen equipment or any type of industrial machinery. The significance of having this equipment in a publicly open makerspace is it democratizes manufacturing. Most makerspaces charge a membership fee that entitles members to use the equipment. People are now able to begin businesses and produce products without being encumbered by the high capital outlays typically associated with manufacturing.
What is most exciting about making and makerspaces is the ease in which an aspiring entrepreneur with limited funds can produce something and then take it to market. By also tapping into sales and marketing technology such as the internet and online payment processing, entrepreneurs are able to establish a business from beginning to end at a fraction of what it used to be. They can become a global manufacturer and global retail distributor via ebay and amazon.
“Although makerspaces will not replace traditional entrepreneurship,” said Carter, “They will become an alternate pathway for the Do-It-Yourself-Revolution.”
According to Carter, promoting the creation and usage of makerspaces also bolsters the attraction of American students to STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields, in which participation in the United States has lagged in the last few decades. Carter is seeing the early signs of growing student interest in making via the makerspace located on the Rutgers University campus that he oversees. In addition to offering educational programs for students, the makerspace, located on Livingston Campus, actively helps faculty with their research patents.
Libraries are now incorporating makerspaces into their facilities to enhance communal access of the space. According to Carter, fourteen libraries in New Jersey have makerspaces and more are in the process of developing them. This democratizes use of the space for all members of the community, from students in Kindergarten through high school learning about technology to adults with their own businesses.
Said Carter, “On a conceptual level, makerspaces are just like co-working spaces. It’s a community environment where people help people and spark creativity. Yet now, they have access to sophisticated equipment at a fraction of the traditional cost which is changing the way business will be done across a broad range of industries.”
