Ford and TechShop on Thursday announced that Allen Park, Mich., is the home of TechShop Detroit, the communal fabrication studio where everyday inventors, from backyard tinkerers to tech-savvy engineers, can go to work and create their projects and products. TechShop already has already has more than 1,500 membership base of do-it-yourselfers (DIY) using their loctaions in California and North Carolina.
Ford and TechShop Will Preview the Facility this Week during Maker Faire Detroit, Held July 30-31 at The Henry Ford in Dearborn
Ford and TechShop first met up in spring 2010 at Maker Faire in San Mateo, Calif., where Ford was invited to display an open innovation app creation project that company researchers developed with University of Michigan students based on SYNC.
Now Ford is the first automaker to work with TechShop to open one of its centers, which offer affordable access to tools, machinery and even “dream coaches” to the DIYer and inventor so they can design, develop, build prototypes of their latest inventions. And like the other TechShop centers, your projects don’t need to be automotive in nature to enjoy and find value in becoming a member.
“We are excited to see what started as a simple idea and conversation between Ford and TechShop take physical form so quickly,” said Bill Coughlin, president and CEO of Ford Global Technologies, the domestic auto industry’s only internal intellectual property management and licensing group. “We want this space to inspire all inventive individuals and communities in and around Detroit to innovate and create.”
Hub of ideas
The official arrival of TechShop to Detroit is also fueling another vision that Ford Global Technologies hopes to bring to life just as quickly and at the same address — a first-of-its-kind intellectual property exchange and technology showroom where everyday inventors, industry insiders, universities and research labs can display and even license their automotive innovations and other ideas.
“This showroom idea can be considered TechShop ‘Plus,’” said Coughlin. “It will be an open meeting place that will enable inventors to showcase what they create in TechShop and then negotiate, network and even sell their idea to players in the automotive industry, from manufacturers and suppliers to research institutions and startups.”
The Innovation Exchange concept is a brick-and-mortar extension of the Detroit-based AutoHarvest Foundation, a new non-profit organization set up by several respected automotive executives to help connect the auto industry with metro Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Ford Global Technologies, along with other automakers, suppliers, universities and research centers actively support AutoHarvest.
What’s unique about the AutoHarvest connection, said Coughlin who serves as chairman of the group’s Innovation Advisory Council, is that it gives the technology exchange showroom concept and those that use it an established collaborative and secure online platform where intellectual property is shared but also properly protected.
“Selling your technology can be difficult and daunting,” he said. “The Innovation Exchange is all about helping spread the word about the innovation occurring inside Tech Shop, giving the creator the foundational resources they need to understand how to sell and commercialize their idea and connect with the right players while protecting their intellectual property.”
Managed by AutoHarvest, the Innovation Exchange would be open to the entire automotive community as well as individual makers in other industries, empowering the crowd to help create and bring to market the next must-have technologies.
TechShop Detroit Details
Mark Hatch, TechShop CEO, is thrilled to see TechShop Detroit become a reality so quickly and envisions limitless possibilities for the location, especially considering its proximity to the Ford engineering campus, nearby universities and the downtown area. According to recent figures from the U.S. Census Bureau, the number of under-35 college-educated creatives taking up residence in downtown Detroit is on the rise, bucking the city’s overall population decline over the past 10 years.
With more than $1 million invested in high-tech equipment alone, TechShop Detroit will feature everything from top-quality prototyping tools and industrial-grade sewing and textile equipment to laser cutting, welding and machine shop-type gear.
Opening this November, TechShop Detroit will be located in the Fairlane Business Park at 800 Republic Drive in a Ford Land-owned property.
