By Miles Flynn | Southern Indiana Business Report
BLOOMINGTON — Providing makers with the tools they need in a collaborative space can be a springboard that turns dreams into new local businesses. However, the costs of specialized equipment and a dedicated home may put the experience of using a makerspace beyond the reach of many residents. The Uplands Mobile Maker is helping eliminate that hurdle for people across Southern Indiana.
The beginnings of a partnership
A collaboration of the IU Center for Rural Engagement, Regional Opportunity Initiatives and Radius Indiana, the idea of a mobile makerspace to serve the region got its start in 2019. Jeff Quyle, Radius CEO, explained that agency’s involvement grew out of work with the Southern Indiana Development Center on an extensive study in Radius’ eight-county service region on how to promote and assist entrepreneurship. The importance of makerspaces was one of the initiatives highlighted by the SWITCH study (SouthWest Indiana Technology Collaboration Hub).
“Our research in the SWITCH study confirmed that several communities didn’t have adequate access to equipment and tools that would allow local inventors and entrepreneurs to pursue their opportunities to create new businesses,” Quyle said.
The work by Radius on a tool for entrepreneurs coincided with an effort by ROI and the IU Center for Rural Engagement to create a mobile makerspace to travel to schools and teach students and educators about making. It didn’t take long for the leadership of all three organizations to recognize the benefits of a joint project.
For Radius, the concept of putting the makerspace on wheels helped solve two problems. The region is too large to benefit from one centrally located makerspace, Quyle explained, and Radius couldn’t take on the expense of funding multiple permanent locations. “We found that the mobile maker space was the most affordable way to begin to address that access gap for our communities,” Quyle said, “and we were fortunate that ROI and IU were gracious in agreeing to broaden the mission of the vehicle they were outfitting.”
The Uplands Maker Mobile gets rolling
The Uplands Maker Mobile — a Ford Transit van — can be loaded up with all sort of associated equipment, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, Cricut machines, sewing machines, CNC routers and other electronics, plus hand tools for crafting and carpentry. “We’re pretty much an entire functioning makerspace in miniature,” said Andrew Woodard, the specialist leading the project.
Woodard pointed out the vehicle itself is merely a vessel for transporting the gear and needed materials. The actual makerspaces are held with partnering groups who act as hosts. Locations have included libraries, schools, lots, tents and other venues. “We’re only limited by our imaginations,” Woodard said.
The equipment can even be left with the hosts for set periods of time. The overall goal is to introduce more communities to makerspaces and the equipment required in order to show how valuable they can be in supporting entrepreneurship.
The van hit the road last fall, and has been in high gear since April. While the official footprint for the program is the 11-county Indiana Uplands region served by ROI, Woodard said there really isn’t a place the Uplands Maker Mobile can’t go. In addition, the program isn’t restricted to any particular age group and can open as many doors for adults as it can for young students. In all, it’s taken part in about 20 engagement that have involved approximately 300 youth and 150 adults. “I think I’ve gone about 3,000 miles,” said Woodard, who drives the van and wears many other hats behind the scenes.
Helping prove the concept has been successful already, Woodard noted that Owen Valley Middle School — the site of the first big event for the van — is now working to develop its own makerspace and incorporating it into the school curriculum.
Bringing the van to your town
Anyone who would like to learn more about an engagement with the Uplands Mobile Maker should contact Woodard at [email protected] or 505-490-0210. In keeping with the program’s mission of being accessible to everyone, there’s no cost involved. (However, local partners do need to provide the space and are encouraged to supply some of the materials.)