The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) has selected the Park Forest Maker Space incubator as a finalist in an accelerator competition. In May, the SBA announced they were launching the $2.5 million nation-wide competition for accelerators and other entrepreneurial ecosystem models to compete for monetary prizes of $50,000 each. Read more here.
Please click here to view a video that Jason Miller of Park Forest produced and submitted to SBA as part of the final selection process.
The Park Forest Maker Space incubator is a resource for local inventors, tinkerers, artisans, and students to learn about new ways of making things, and to realize their dreams of starting a business or qualifying for a well paying job at an existing manufacturer; and it is a catalyst for a regional collaboration intended to strengthen and expand the Chicago Southland’s manufacturing base, train a skilled workforce, and create opportunities for innovations in the making of things. The maker space incubator will hopefully be the catalyst for a larger hub and spoke network of Makers Spaces located throughout the Chicago Southland (tentatively named the Southland Manufacturing and Innovation Center). In order to create the first Maker Space, the project team will partner with Jim Newton, Founder and Chairman of TechShop, Inc., to create a prototype for a smaller version of a full-sized TechShop. Read more about TechShops here. The initial “TechShop STEM Center” will be located in a 1,000 square foot space in downtown Park Forest, and include equipment such as a computer-controlled laser cutter, a computer-controlled 3-D printer, a computer-controlled desktop CNC router, and support equipment including computers, hand tools, hand-held power tools, and electronics equipment, as well as trained staff to supervise and instruct users.
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