Just a Reminder that we will be holding our regular group meeting Tuesday August 4th @ 7:00 P.M. We will not be meeting at the coffee beanery this week. We will be holding our meeting this week in Matt’s Garage. Our meeting is open to anyone that would like to come. If you are interested in finding out more about our group and would like to be apart of it please join us!
Address:
515 Lloyd Ave. Royal Oak MI 48073 (map)
Four individuals from i3 Detroit were able to attend a “TechShop” Movement discussion at the UofM Business Engagement Center on Tuesday evening.. We wanted to take a moment to share our thoughts and outlook from this discussion as we have had a lot of you asking for an update.
Tuesday was a giant leap for the Maker Movement in Detroit. Not only did we gather many local groups with similar interests (i3 Detroit, Detroit Industrial Arts League, a2geeks, Coffee House Coders, etc), entrepreneurs and universities, we had Make Magazine & TechShop all in the same room. The atmosphere was a mix of innovation and inspiration. It was exciting to get all the “M.B.A.s”, as Nate coined them, brainstorming and see their heads nodding during the presentations. With big names like Jim Newton, from TechShop & Dale Dougherty, from Make Magazine, it was just the ignition we needed to give the Movement in Detroit a starting platform that all of us have been trying so hard to do.
Do we think this is a replacement or a competition for i3 Detroit, absolutely not. Mark Hatch, TechShop COO, said that any growth to the industry segment is positive for both TechShop and those individual groups. This will bring more notoriety to the movement and empower people to think creatively about projects.
Some of the main points that we covered at the meeting were:
* TechShop and Maker Faire considering Detroit, but skeptical of the market/interest
* Interest is split between Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit
* Detroit is not Silicon Valley, but still has many makers
* Interest is present largely underground, and Detroit needs a way to foster communication within the creative community
The overall feeling from the i3 Detroit Members was that everyone genuinely wanted to hear about our experience with i3, and eager to work with us to help cultivate a pro-maker culture in Detroit.We feel that everyone agreed that great things would happen more often if disparate groups that don’t normally hang out together spent more time in each other’s territories. Over dinner, we discussed a number of help-for-startups opportunities provided by various groups.
We would like to Thank everyone from the UofM for putting this event on! We would also like to Thank Dale Dougherty from Make magazine as well as Jim Newton & Mark Hatch from the TechShop for taking the time to come and speak with all of us here in Michigan.
i3 Detroit has been invited to what Associate Vice-Presidents Marvin Parnes
and Dan Atkins expect to be a very interesting opportunity to learn about
the “TechShop movement” and to consider a planning process for a Detroit TechShop
model that blends education, economic renewal,innovation, and entrepreneurship.
Phoenix Wang, advisor to the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation,
Diana Rhoten, Director, Digital Media and Learning at the Social
Science Research Council,and Mark Hatch, COO of TechShop in Menlo Park,California
will be here to present and discuss TechShop and how it may be of value to Detroit.
We will make sure to provide further updates of the outcome of the event.
We would like to Thank Dug Song for making sure we were able to be involved.
The guys over at the Ann Arbor Go-Tech makers group are putting on the first Ann Arbor Makers Faire on Saturday August 29th 2009 at the Neutral Zone which is located at 310 E. Washington Ann Arbor, MI 48104. They are looking for people to register for exhibitors. If you would like to be apart of the making of Metro Detroit’s First Maker Faire head over to their site and register today!
i3 Detroit is already registered and planning to be there so we hope to see you all come out and visit us.
i3 Detroit still has open Membership if you are interested. We are holding our weekly meeting tonight @ 7:00 P.M at the Coffee Beanery in Berkley Mi.
If you are interested in learning more about the group and our projects please join us. If you already know you want to be a member you can fill out the new member sign up form and bring with you or you can pay online via credit card on our Membership page. The monthly dues are $50.00 per month. As a member you will have access to the space 24/7, attend weekly classes, voting rights and more.
We hope to see some new faces tonight as we continue to grow i3 Detroit into an amazing group of talented individuals!
Thanks
i3 Detroit Team