Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | September 26, 2016 | Worcester Business Journal 13 Looking to maximize the value of your privately owned business? Have questions and concerns on how to do it? At ROCG – a nationally recognized leader in the business exit/transition field – we have the answers. Our hands-on, best practices approach, ensures our clients implement successful plans to meet their personal lifestyle and legacy objectives, whether it be an outside third-party sale, management buy-out or a next generation family transfer. For more information, our White Paper on Business Transition, recent business exit and value growth articles and upcoming speaking engagements visit http://americas.rocg.com or contact Terry Shepherd at 617-412-4640. 617-412-4640 • http://americas.rocg.com licly-accessible Technocopia and the WorcShop makerspaces – two communi- ty-organized-and-operated, member- ship-based makerspaces. The WorcShop has an industrial bent and gives members access to massive metal-working machin- ery. It opened this year. "Markets for products and services are pursued here," said Randal Gardner, CEO of WorcShop, which also functions as an incubator. "You can start off in the mak- erspace on the cheap so you aren't spend- ing a lot of money on startup facilities … and once your sales become so much that the makerspace isn't enough for you, then you go to the bank and get financing and get your own space." Developing young & old entrepreneurs The same model is being used by WPI and QCC to help their students as they transition either into an entrepreneurial effort or the workplace. Even if students go right into the work environment, the skills of innovative thinking they can hone in a makerspace will serve them well, said Michael Ginsberg, the dean of WPI's school of business. "Large companies always talk about the percentage of their offering that didn't exist five years ago," said Ginsberg. Education in makerspaces isn't just limited to those placed in colleges and universities. Technocopia Co-founder Kevin Harrington said this is an inherent component of any makerspace, as a great deal of the equipment – such as 3D print- ers – has no official certification to prove people's competency. "The difference between what the tool share is and the educational piece is the empowerment of how to use those tools and become autonomous on them," said Lauren Monroe, who recently combined her nonprofit organization Worcester Area Think Tank with Technocopia in the new space. "We brought over all of our youth programs that had been oper- ating for eight years independently." This move is just one of the ways mak- erspaces in Worcester are extending past educational necessity and embracing this as part of their explicit mission. Dropping cost, constant need But understanding the function and educational drive of these Worcester makerspaces doesn't explain their recent resurgence. The answer is nearly as var- ied as the people you ask. However, one strain that runs through those answers is cost: the exorbitant cost of trying to out- fit all this equipment yourself makes membership attractive. In Worcester, these places to build and do something with your hands may be tapping into the city's history of manu- facturing and innovation, said Ginsberg. If part of the reason for the surge in these spaces is the past, in practice they are a part of the future. Having affordable spaces where students can grow business- es and make ideas a reality will retain them in the city, said Gardner. However, the future of makerspaces themselves may be within businesses who can use them to access the collaborative thinking that offices promise but has been lost as departmental walls have built up and compartmentalized differ- ent employees, said Fisher, who is working on a makerspace within GE's new Boston headquarters. "It's breaking down barriers and breaking down silos that have grown tighter and tighter in many research- based companies," he said. "Why do you come to the office? You come there because need to interact with colleagues." The WorcShop 243 Stafford St., Worcester Larger, industrial users and smaller companies looking to incubate 25 2016 Technocopia 44 Portland St., 6th Floor, Worcester Educational focus with STEM entreprenuership for youth and adults 6 2013 Framingham Saxonville Mills, Makerspace 2 Watson Place, #5C, Framingham A community effort started out of people's homes 1 2014 Quinsigamond Community 670 W. Boylston St., College Fab Lab Worcester Designed for the school's students to work together on projects N/A 2016 Foisie Innovation Studio at Worcester 100 Institute Road, Opening fall Polytechnic Institute Worcester Makerspace will be core of facility for prototyping and collaboration N/A of 2017 Makerspaces in Central Mass. Makerspaces are founding and growing throughout Central Massachusetts, with two in Worcester opening this year. No. of Year Name Location Focus members founded Source: Individual operations and their websites W

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