President Obama to Host First-Ever White House Maker Faire

Today, President Obama will host the first ever White House Maker Faire and will meet with students, entrepreneurs and everyday citizens who are using new tools and techniques to launch businesses, learn vital skills in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), and lead a grassroots renaissance in American manufacturing. 

As part of his year of action and this week’s focus on efforts that will expand opportunity by spurring manufacturing, innovation and entrepreneurship, the President will also announce new steps the Administration and its partners are taking to increase the ability of more Americans, young and old, to have access to these tools and techniques and to bring their ideas to life.

Among the efforts being launched by the President at the White House Maker Faire:

• Helping Makers launch new businesses and create jobs, with more than 13 federal agencies and companies including Etsy, Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Local Motors offering Makers a suite of support services including expanded access to start-up grants, strong relationships with American manufacturers and major retailers, and business mentoring and training.
• Dramatically expanding the number of students that have the opportunity to become Makers, with the Department of Education and five other agencies; over 150 colleges and universities; more than 130 libraries; and major companies ranging including Intel, Autodesk, Disney, Lego, 3D Systems, and MAKE committing to create more Makerspaces, enlist more educators in teaching Making, and launch other programs that allow students access to the tools and mentors that will bring their ideas to life. 
• Challenging Makers to tackle our most pressing problems, from Maker Nurses prototyping new tools that will aid in patient care, to Makers expanding our frontiers in space, to Makers here and abroad developing low-cost technologies that can improve the livelihoods of the world’s most vulnerable people.

America has always been a nation of tinkerers, inventors, and entrepreneurs. In recent years, a growing number of Americans have gained access to technologies such as 3D printers, laser cutters, easy-to-use design software, and desktop machine tools, with even more being created by the day. These tools are enabling more Americans to design and build almost anything.

The rise of the Maker Movement represents a huge opportunity for the United States. Nationwide, new tools for democratized production are boosting innovation and entrepreneurship in manufacturing, in the same way that the Internet and cloud computing have lowered the barriers to entry for digital startups, creating the foundation for new products and processes that can help to revitalize American manufacturing.

These tools, increasing access to nearby makerspaces, and events like Maker Faires across the country are inspiring a new generation of entrepreneurs, empowering Makers to launch manufacturing startups in the same way that Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs developed and marketed the first Apple Computer while participating in the Homebrew Computer Club.  Mentors and educators are “passing it on” and inspiring boys and girls to invent, tinker, and learn vital skills in STEM education.

The first-ever White House Maker Faire comes just one day after the President visited TechShop Pittsburgh, a makerspace and fabrication studio where individuals can build and test their own products. During his visit, the President highlighted new efforts by his Administration and by more than 90 mayors to spur manufacturing innovation and entrepreneurship. Read more about their efforts here and here.

Details on the First-Ever White House Maker Faire

The first-ever White House Maker Faire will feature over 100 Makers from more than 25 states, and include more than 30 exhibits. The President will view a subset of these exhibits, representing the incredible range of creativity and ingenuity unlocked by the Maker movement. Following his tour of the White House Maker Faire, the President will deliver remarks to an audience of entrepreneurs, students, business leaders, mayors, and heads of non-profit organizations. A more detailed backgrounder on the notable attendees, exhibitors and other honored Makers at the event is available here.  

ANNOUNCEMENTS BEING MADE TODAY

New steps to support Maker-led startups that will create new industries and jobs.

New technologies for rapid prototyping – from laser cutters to CNC routers to 3D printers – have dramatically lowered the cost of developing a prototype and starting a business in manufacturing. The ability to rapidly and affordably test, tinker, monitor and customize places a premium on locating production close to American markets and opens new doors to entrepreneurship and innovation in manufacturing. The power of these emerging technologies creates the opportunity for Makers to launch new businesses, create jobs and build the industries of the future.

To leverage these opportunities, the Administration announced today that:

• The Manufacturing Extension Partnership is helping startups scale from DIY to Made in the USA. The NIST Manufacturing Extension Partnership serves more than 30,000 U.S. manufacturers each year with a national network of manufacturing assistance centers across all 50 states. The partnership is helping entrepreneurs that got their start as DIY projects and sellers on Etsy, Tindie, Kickstarter, Dragon Innovation, and Indiegogo, locate U.S. based manufacturers with the right expertise and capabilities to partner with the entrepreneurs in scaling up their businesses through MEP’s American Supplier network. For example, Etsy and Fuze Hub, which was launched with a NIST MEP grant, will conduct a pilot to help small designers and makers scale their production by using and accessing local manufacturers, while also educating them on the development and creation of a manufacturing company. 
• The Small Business Administration is targeting additional support to startup accelerators that help Maker-entrepreneurs. The Small Business Administration, through its $2.5M Accelerator competition, will encourage communities to include startup accelerators and Maker spaces for entrepreneurs in their regional entrepreneurship strategies. This effort builds on SBA’s commitment to help fund non-traditional startup accelerators, including accelerators that may focus on hardware and manufacturing startups. In addition, SBA and USPTO will work together in raising awareness around the maker and inventor nexus through newly established efforts via the AAAS-Lemelson Invention Ambassador program. This endeavor cultivates a new and diverse generation of inventors and increase global understanding of the role of invention in improving our quality of life, creating new products, building new businesses, and fostering innovation. Finally, to support the growth and development of Makers, the SBA will hold one American Supplier Initiative event aimed at providing education and training on the three core challenges small business suppliers face: access to markets, access to capital and access to capabilities.
• The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will provide novel support for Maker startups and small businesses.In addition to opening outreach spaces that will host programming for Makers in the USPTO’s four new regional offices in Detroit, Denver, Silicon Valley, and Dallas, the USPTO is developing a customized advice hotline for Makers. The USPTO will also release a “how to” guide on patenting and IP issues for Maker entrepreneurs and host a series of roadshows across the country to help entrepreneurs navigate the IP system. The USPTO is also working to educate the youngest entrepreneurs through a summer institute on making and intellectual property for middle and high school teachers; new digital badging for boys and girls in collaboration with the 4-H and Girl Scouts; a collaboration with the YMCA to create Maker spaces for students; and the launch of a “USPTO Kids” web site that will showcase young inventors and Making activities.
• 11 agencies that collectively grant over $2.5 billion annually to small businesses across the country via the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) programs are committing to leverage the programs to support Maker innovations. DOD, HHS, DOE, NASA, NSF, USDA, DOC, DOT, DHS, EPA, and ED will work on identifying new and existing topics that are related to Making and its connection to advanced manufacturing, such as next-generation technologies that increase the variety and value of what an individual or small team can design, prototype and manufacture.  A few examples of the research being conducted includes:
  • The Department of Defense (DoD) has opened up 30 Maker-technology topics for proposals, like the Affordable Manufacturing of Refractory Metal Components.
  • The National Science Foundation (NSF) is searching for innovations that permit manufacturing through a layering process, including 3D printing. 
  • NASA is sponsoring topics like Recycling/Reclamation of 3-D Printer Plastic for Re-use.
• The U.S. Department of Agriculture will launch two new competitions to galvanize colleges and schools around agricultural technologies and Making. The competitions will launch later this year for community college and middle school students to compete to create commercialization plans and prototypes for existing Agriculture Research Service technologies.  The competitions will help promote agricultural technological development and entrepreneurship that can help promote food, agriculture, natural resources, rural development, nutrition, and related issues.

The private sector and others responding to the President’s call to action by announcing:

• Local Motors will launch 100 new Microfactories over the next ten years to accelerate innovations in manufacturing. Local Motors, founded by U.S. Marine and Iraq veteran Jay Rogers, is a leader in open-source hardware innovation. Local Motors Microfactories feature Lab spaces that are open to innovators who are willing to share their projects. Each Lab is also a nexus where the community can pursue STEM education and empower a global community of producers of things, not just consumers of things. Partnerships with local schools and universities, government labs and industries provide the community of makers with unprecedented access to both making capabilities and a platform that extends beyond ideation and prototyping to low-volume production and marketing. Within five years, the Microfactories will train over 1,000 students annually and will have offered over $1 million in prizes for new designs. In addition, Local Motors is helping established companies innovate. With GE, for example, Local Motors is helping to bring products to market faster through the FirstBuild Microfactory and Platform (firstbuild.com).
• Indiegogo is launching a mentorship competition for startups with the support of Amazon, Intel, and Autodesk. Indiegogo, the world’s largest crowdfunding platform, is partnering with Autodesk to launch its first-ever Maker Challenge. This is a great opportunity for the Indiegogo community’s makers to share their work with the world and raise project awareness. Five selected campaigns will receive 123D Mentorship from Autodesk, while all qualifying maker-oriented projects will get access to Autodesk Fusion 360, an easy-to-use 3D CAD/CAM tool for those makers bringing new products to market.
• TechShop is announcing an expansion to St. Louis and Los Angeles, with its latest ribbon cutting just this week at a new facility in Arlington, VA supported by DARPA and GE.  TechShop, a national network of Maker spaces that offer access to the latest Maker tools and training for the price of a gym membership, is partnering with universities, academic institutions, companies, corporations, local government and individuals to bring TechShop St. Louis and TechShop Los Angeles to those cities next year. TechShop is also in discussions with over a dozen other cities who want to bring TechShop's open access model to their communities.
• Grommet will bolster innovation in Main Street retail by creating an effective bridge between new products by Makers and store shelves. The Grommet, a product launch platform for new innovative products will today debut a wholesale e-commerce site. The Grommet Wholesale platform will provide a critical missing resource to build sustainable Maker businesses, by creating a more convenient, organized, and curated platform from which retailers can source the newest and most imaginative products for their stores.  With the wholesale extension of their business model, the Grommet will leverage the rich content and data-driven consumer validation created by their existing business to de-risk the purchase of otherwise unproven products for small retailers on its wholesale platform. Grommet’s end goal is to assure that within five years, 10% of all products flowing through US retail are originating from independent small-scale Makers, who create vibrant jobs and innovative products in every corner of the country.
• Intel will adopt six Maker Cities across the US to encourage education as well as small-scale product design, development and manufacturing efforts in those cities. Intel will engage with local city leaders in Santa Clara, CA and the surrounding Silicon Valley region; Folsom, CA; the Portland, OR Metro area; Chandler, AZ; Austin, TX; and the Albuquerque, NM Metro area to spearhead the coordination of local partnerships, events, and demonstration projects. These efforts will highlight the opportunities for economic growth, workforce development and job creation that arise from a vibrant local maker scene.
• Kickstarter is launching a new funding category specifically for Makerspaces: Today Kickstarter, a funding platform for creative projects is announcing that the creation of a new funding category for Maker Spaces, as part of a broader Civic initiative. The launch of a new category for Makerspaces -- places where people can come together to make new things -- is a rallying cry for builders, hackers and developers everywhere. To date, more than $1.1 billion dollars have been pledged to Kickstarter projects, and over 62,000 projects have been successfully funded by more than 6 million people. Much of that support has gone to projects by Makers over the past five years, but calling attention to the physical spaces where many of these Maker projects began will make it easier than ever for new and existing Makers to find support and funding.
• Etsy is empowering unemployed adults to become entrepreneurs using their artistic skills by expanding its Craft Entrepreneurship program to ten cities and by making the curriculum publicly available in 2015.Craft Entrepreneurship teaches unemployed and underemployed adults how to monetize their artistic skills online, using Etsy's e-commerce platform as a learning lab. Participants learn skills like pricing, product photography, and search engine optimization and apply them to their online shop. In 2013, Etsy worked with the cities of Rockford, IL and New York City, NY to pilot the Craft Entrepreneurship program in the Rockford public housing authority and the NYC workforce development centers. Bill, an early participant in the Rockford program, is successfully selling his handmade frames on Etsy and at craft fairs, and no longer has to ask his son for help to pay his monthly bills. By incorporating micro-entrepreneurship training and support into workforce development programs, cities can ensure that the opportunities of the maker economy are accessible to all.
• Trimble Navigation commits to expanding its free software services to Makers by adding cloud based software and 3D printing tools.  Trimble's SketchUp business has been involved in the Maker movement from its inception.  Trimble is committing to expand its free software services to Makers by delivering a professionally managed cloud platform for design through its 3D Warehouse, and through active sponsorship and support of open source development initiatives in the area of 3D Printing and Digital Fabrication (such as Wikihouse and OpenDesk), which connects robotic machine tools with SketchUp’s simple-to-use design environment. Trimble will also continue to offer the SketchUp 3D design software product "SketchUp Make" free to the Maker community and its over 30 million users.  Trimble hosts a website repository of 3D designs and images that is freely accessible to makers looking for inspiration or seeking to share their models and designs.  The SketchUp "3D Warehouse," contains over 2.5 million models, including thousands of Maker designs.
• Leading tech companies from Google to Microsoft to Esri are helping connect Makers with each other, open up new makerspaces, and make existing makerspaces easier to find:  Esri is developing a live National Day of Making map, with information on the range of universities, libraries, and cities across the country that are taking part in the Day of Making. Additionally, ESRI’s map will include a live snapshot of National Day of Making by pulling tweets from around the globe and continually updating them on a map, which will allow more people to discover Making in their communities as well as existing resources.  Microsoft is announcing a series of Maker Garage Student Open Houses, giving underserved students access to the Maker Garage and the tools, technology and techniques they need to realize their full potential. Google is launching a public interactive nationwide Maker Map to help makers explore local spaces where they can come together to build new projects.  From July 7th to August 15th, Google and MAKE will also host their third annual Maker Camp - a free summer camp for building, tinkering and exploring available virtually on Google+ and in local neighborhoods. Google will be providing 500 maker “affiliate sites” around the country with a starter kit of technology and materials for the projects, so that campers can make projects together as well as online.

New Steps to Help Inspire and Prepare Many More Students Become Makers.

The Maker Movement can fuel the imagination of American students, and equip them with the skills they need to invent the future. Hands-on learning and Making not only promotes values such as creativity, problem-solving, collaboration, and self-expression, but can also serve as a path to get more girls and boys excited about STEM and about careers making things in manufacturing.

To give more students access to the tools, mentors and spaces they need, the Administration announced today that:

• The Department of Education and its partners are launching a "make over" challenge to create more makerspaces in schools. The Department of Education is launching a "make over" challenge to accelerate the pace at which career and technical education (CTE) classrooms are redesigned to meet the needs of manufacturing in the 21st century. To help lead this transformation, the Department of Education plans to partner with private industry to launch a "Career and Technical Education Make Over Challenge" for community colleges and high schools around the country. States and local educational agencies will compete to receive technical assistance, and professional development, equipment, and or technology to modernize and upgrade CTE facilities.  The challenge is planned for the 2014-2015 school year.
• The Institute of Museum and Library Services and its partners are announcing new programing and upcoming investments in support of Making:  IMLS, the lead federal agency that supports the vitality of America’s libraries and museums, is committing to providing at least $1 million in strategic awards this year for libraries and museums to create makerspaces and engage in other maker-related programming. In addition, IMLS will create a Maker@ Your Museum and Library toolkit built off of the expertise developed by over 50 pioneering libraries and museums. Examples of museums supporting efforts to expand making in their communities include:
  • Kid Museum in Montgomery County, Maryland is launching a 7,500 square foot makerspace that is expected to introduce over 20,000 students in the Washington D.C. region in the next year to the power of Making within the next year.
  • The New York Hall of Science will inspire a half million annual visitors to design, make and play through programs like Make Academy, Little Makers, SciPlay and the all-new exhibitions Design Lab and Connected Worlds; and in partnership with Maker Media will welcome more than 80,000 visitors and 600 makers to the fifth annual World Maker Faire in September.
• The National Science Foundation (NSF) is highlighting Making-related research opportunities to advance STEM education and innovation. Making has the potential to support many of NSF’s goals, such as increasing retention and broadening participation in STEM education; empowering citizen scientists and citizen explorers; adding new possibilities for informal STEM learning; and supporting research in design; prototyping and advanced manufacturing. NSF’s activities build on the significant investments it has already made. For example, NSF strategic investments in additive manufacturing enabled many of the innovations underlying 3-D printing, computer-aided design, geometric modeling and embedded systems. Education programs include out-of-school activities and challenges that engage students and teachers in the manufacturing process and catalyze research on the impacts. NSF has a history of supporting educational programs that are integrated with science and engineering research, including NSF’s investments in engineering research centers and in science and technology centers. In the next year, NSF will hold a Makers Summit to convening researchers and practitioners, including representatives from community makerspaces, engineering schools, communities that do research on learning, libraries, museums, and manufacturers. 
• DARPA is announcing the first round of Maker-related awards under its $12.5M MENTOR2 program. The program will support the development of teaching materials aimed at students who are either headed towards or currently working in the uniformed services, with a focus on understanding, diagnosing, repairing, and adapting high-tech equipment in low-tech environments.  MENTOR 2's project-based curricula – which will incorporate novel tools related to design, prototyping, and product evaluation – will give students a deeper understanding of modern electromechanical systems and an enhanced ability to maintain and adapt these systems to changing needs. The MENTOR2 awards that DARPA is announcing today are going to Georgia Tech and SRI; DARPA expects to make additional awards later this year, and anticipates that MENTOR2 teaching tools will find wider applicability in other secondary and post-secondary environments.  DARPA is also planning to launch a pilot project later this year to engage Makers and entrepreneurs with new ideas for robotics.
• The Smithsonian is launching a multi-year Making Initiative using its vast collections of historical objects.  Smithsonian will launch a five-year Making Initiative, with the mission of using the Smithsonian’s vast collections and deep expertise, along with facilitators, mentors, and digital resources, to help makers of all ages learn about the past, understand the challenges of today, and imagine the future. Over the next five years, the Initiative will include: continuing to develop hands-on and creative learning spaces in our museums on the National Mall; creating a cohesive digital space for Makers of Smithsonian content; providing a library of curricula, simple how-to guides, and other tools to use Smithsonian’s growing 3D archive; hosting design challenges, with the opportunity to display some of the winning designs be put on display at the Smithsonian; and continuing the digitization of Smithsonian collections into 3D models, into formats suitable for remixing in CAD applications and 3D printing, with the goal to achieve orders of magnitude more scans for makers in the coming years. The Smithsonian is the world’s largest museum and research complex, with 137 million objects, artworks, and specimens, and equally expansive archival holdings.
• The Department of Education will focus on Making through the 21st Century Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program, the Administration’s largest investment in afterschool and summer programming activities:  The U.S. Department of Education (ED) is developing new ways to encourage Making as part of its commitment to expand access to science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) subjects for all students. Making has the exciting potential to catalyze students’ interest in STEM subjects, and encourage learning outside of the classroom. The Department of Education is announcing plans in this fiscal year to make technical assistance and professional development available under the 21st Century Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program so that 21st CCLC sites can offer Making opportunities afterschool and during the summer.  ED is also exploring coordination with the Institute of Museum and Library Services to leverage the Institute’s investment in Maker spaces that are close to 21st CCLC sites, to encourage broader access to Making for students in low-performing schools and low-income neighborhoods.
• A partnership between the U.S. Department of Agriculture and 4-H clubs nationwide is inspiring more than 27,000 students in rural areas to invent and Make. The U.S. Department of Agriculture Division of Youth and 4-H, in partnership with the National 4-H Council and state 4-H programs, will introduce Making to youth across the country, ensuring that students in rural areas also have access to Making. At 4-H’s first ever Maker Youth Summit in November 2014, 120 4-H mentors will participate in hands-on training in Making. Even more will benefit from new online resources being launched in the coming year, empowering 4-H mentors and leaders to take what they have learned back to their communities and to inspire more students to invent, engineer, and make. By launching mobile Maker spaces, expanding afterschool programs, and holding competitions at state fairs, 4-H clubs in states like California, Virginia, Nebraska, Utah, and West Virginia are gearing up to reach more than 27,000 students and youth.

The private sector and others are responding to the President’s call to action by announcing:

• More than 150 colleges and universities reaching over 3 million students, from Columbia to Caltech, are taking steps to expand Making on campuses and in their communities. A diverse group of higher education institutions, including universities, community colleges, schools of art and design, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities, signed a letter to the President committing to take concrete steps to empower students to learn through Making, expand access to Maker spaces, incorporate Making into senior design projects and admissions portfolios, and support student entrepreneurship. For example:
  • Case Western Reserve University is announcing plans to break ground on the renovation of a new 50,000 square-foot makerspace, called Think[box], which includes seven floors designed to help students, faculty, and members of the community design, collaborate, prototype, fabricate, incubate, and start companies that can manufacture products and create jobs here in the U.S.
  • Carnegie Mellon University will launch a multi-faceted Maker campaign including a more than $5 million investment in a number of maker spaces on the main campus and at satellite locations as well as eight new interdisciplinary minors focused on learning through Making. Carnegie Mellon will also partner with the Intel Corporation to advance best practices in Maker education for K-16 and lifelong learning, and to develop Maker tool kits and guides that will be available to schools across the country.
  • The Massachusetts Institute of Technology will release a detailed whitepaper about fostering Making on its campus. The document outlines how MIT shapes admissions processes to value and encourage Making, grows Maker-driven curriculum and research, manages maker spaces on campus, and organizes and inspires a student-led culture of making.
  Additional details on the steps being taken by the more than 150 universities and colleges is availablehere.
  
  

• More than 125 libraries and library systems across the country are committing to support Making. Libraries ranging from small rural public libraries, schools and academic libraries to some of the largest public library systems in the United States are committing to support Making, from creating or adapting current spaces, to investing in tools and technology, to participating in regional efforts that build a tight-knit and vibrant Maker ecosystem. A few examples of such efforts include:
  • Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana has forged a multi-year partnership with TekVenture, a local non-profit maker space to bring maker technologies and activities to library patrons. TekVenture is repurposing a 10,000 sq. ft. building near the Library to provide patrons and the public 24-hour access to a broad range of prototyping and digital fabrication technologies.
  • Chicago Public Library Maker Lab has already served over 44,000 visitors since its opening in July 2013 and will focus on increasing participation and inclusion, particularly of women and minorities.
  • Broward County Library in Fort Lauderdale, Florida runs the Creation Station, which hosts STEM-oriented activities for students. The Library will designate September as Maker Month and will feature a series of DIY events and activities throughout the month.
  • East Baton Rouge Parish Library in Louisiana will be hosting a Mini-Maker Faire in September 2014.
  You can view the full list of 125 libraries and read more about their efforts here.
  

---

Proud Sponsor of 990WBOB

More WBOB News & Politics

• Pants on Fire: Fung Attack Ad Features False Claims
  
• Gardiner: Fung Campaign Unleashes Shock & Awe
  
• RI Ranked 6th Safest State in the U.S.
  
• RI House Passes Tech Education Bill