MakerSpace Buffalo Background - Problems/Opportunities

[Scott Vader]

What are the issues that will encourage or affect a MakerSpace in Buffalo?

My two cents, please comment on and add to this backgrounder!

Scott

We're witnessing the start of the Third Industrial Revolution. The first industrial revolution used steam power to increase a person's output beyond the capability of their muscles. The second created organized factory structures to eliminate wasted physical human and machine capability. The Third Industrial Revolution connects everyone to each other, knowledge, energy, materials and local production to multiply their combined creative and mental capabilities. To quote Andrew McAfee, We ain't seen nothing yet.  

More manufacturing than made sense was off-shored. Wages are rising in low cost production countries. Quality, responsiveness and lost creativity offset the cost savings for complex and low volume products. However, high volume commodity type products are available at crazy low prices for example micro-controllers, servo motors and power supplies. These are the input components that are facilitating building the Third Industrial Revolution tools of digital manufacturing.

Buffalo has a great legacy of manufacturing and inventing things. Lots of available expertise in machining, welding, engineering and organization.

Buffalo has good roads and infrastructure. You can get anywhere in the Greater Buffalo region in about 30 minutes.

Large local institutions want to bring about positive change for the community. University at Buffalo, Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus, Buffalo State University, Erie Community College. However, tribal behavior can stand in the way of effective community collaborations. Ideally, they would all be involved with a City wide maker movement.

Buffalo Advanced Manufacturing Institute is a collaboration between University at Buffalo and Edison Welding Institute to help local business learn to use the new tools of digital manufacturing. Sort of the well funded, professional end of the maker movement. Could be a supporter of the MakerSpace Buffalo idea.

There's some (needless) friction between those who live in the City and those who live outside the City limits.

There is very little seed capital available to get new startup companies through the valley of death. Bootstrapping is a good alternative especially as it gets cheaper to start a business and create prototypes. Crowd Funding like KickStarter can give fast low cost access to potential customers to facilitate bootstrapping. The coming JOBS act title III will allow anyone to invest in startup companies. Currently this is limited to accredited investors, essentially millionaires.

Buffalo Demographics: 39% Black folks but only 15% of businesses are Black owned, or 39% of potential. Contrast this with Detroit at 83% Black and 64% Black owned businesses or 83% of potential. Buffalo has only 25% female owned businesses or 50% of potential. Of note, businesses are 50% female owned in Detroit.

Buffalo has a low average income of $20,000 vs some places with Worldclass MakerSpaces like Somerville, Ma (Artisan's Asylum) at $33,000. While Artisan's Asylum charges $150 per month perhaps $100 is more reasonable. Even at that reduced price low cost or no cost options would be needed if its to be truly inclusive.

Buffalo industrial space can be purchased for $13/sq ft, one of the lowest pricing in the country. 

Making something is very rewarding. It makes you happy in a way that tells you you're taping into a deep important evolved human need that has been recently forgotten. We didn't spend millions of years growing a large brain and learning to walk erect so our hands would be free to bang out 140 characters to each other. Those hands are there to get stuff done!