Ahead of the Danbury Hackerspace”™s official opening, organizers and government officials have been on a citywide campaign to teach residents about hackers and the maker movement.
“Hackerspaces aren”™t just a bunch of nerds sitting around computers,” said Mike Kaltschnee, co-founder of the Danbury Hackerspace. “They”™re artists, engineers, craftsman and programmers.”
The Hackerspace, which is a part of the new Danbury Innovation Center, is set to open in late August. Unlike its Stamford counterpart, the Danbury Innovation Center will have more of an emphasis on manufacturing and entrepreneurs who want to physically build things as opposed to digitally building them, organizers say.
Hackerspace organizers have tapped into a national maker movement, which Kaltschnee said summons individuals, builders, craft workers and others to start making things with their hands again.
In a deeply-rooted manufacturing town like Danbury, city officials have quickly embraced the idea and the creation of the Danbury Innovation Center, which will be located downtown Danbury.
The center will include the Hackerspace, co-working space for entrepreneurs and office space for SCORE, a nonprofit business development group.
To raise awareness of the maker movement and the new Innovation Center, the city hosted its first Mini Maker Faire earlier this month.
Held on the coattails of Tropical Storm Andrea, at least 500 people attended the rain-soaked fair grounds to learn about the new Hackerspace and about different projects makers have been doing in the region. Among the most popular booths at the fair was a 3-D printer, which produced sculptures of fair attendees using a 3-D body scanner.
“The innovation center is going to be huge for us,” said Bruce Tuomala, Danbury economic development director. “A lot of the jobs that have gone away aren”™t coming back. The future is going to be a lot more entrepreneurial and this is right in the sweet spot of that.”
Tuomala said the city was happy to be able to foster a creative environment, as that”™s where ideas and platforms turn into businesses and careers. Hackerspaces have been popping up in cities across the country, including several in Connecticut, but the Danbury city government has been one of the first to fully embrace a Hackerspace. The city is also the first municipality to host a Maker Faire, even though hundreds of fairs have been held nationally before.
“We want this to become the premier technology event in Western Connecticut and biggest event in the city,” Toumala said. “Now that (residents have) seen this, it”™s going to spread like wild fire.”
Overall the Hackerspace plans to help entrepreneurs work on product design while they craft their business models. The group is also working in collaboration with the Stamford Innovation Center on creating an easy pathway for entrepreneurs to access both innovation centers. However the Danbury space does see itself has distinct from the Stamford space, said Jon Gatrell, another Hackerspace co-founder.
“Danbury is more of a manufacturing base,” Gatrell said. “We”™ll give people the opportunity to create whatever they want to create. It”™s still technology but it”™s more of a hands-on thing, so you”™re getting an object out of it.”
The Danbury Hackerspace has yet to open, but the group is already planning to pursue a position as a hub in the Connecticut Innovation Ecosystem. The ecosystem, officially launched in November 2012, is a statewide network of hubs designed to help entrepreneurs start and grow their companies. Currently Danbury residents are represented by the Stamford hub, which is operated by the Stamford Innovation Center and the Business Council of Fairfield County.
“People to want to be a part of a community and that”™s what we”™re building in Danbury,” Kaltschnee said. “There”™s a movement here.”
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