Knight Foundation supports the Miami Makers Initiative to connect talented people and foster creative environments that stimulate new ideas. Below, organizer Ric Herrero, co-founder of MIAMade, writes about the maker movement here in South Florida. Photo credit: Michael Bolden. 

“Is the Maker Movement real or just a really cool fad?” Several people asked me this after the huge success of our first Miami Mini Maker Faire, sponsored by Knight Foundation, last November. There, regional inventors and entrepreneurs both young and old showcased over 60 innovative projects, products and services they conjured up using technology such as 3-D printers, desktop tools, design software and good old-fashioned craftsmanship. Related Link

“Second annual Miami Mini Maker Faire will provide more opportunities for makers and young entrepreneurs; 4,000 people expected to attend” – June 30, 2014 Press Release

I wish those people could have joined me at the San Francisco Bay Area and White House Maker Faires earlier this year. Either event would have made a believer out of the most hardened skeptic.Seeing the creativity of our local makers was energizing, and the Miami Mini Maker Faire proved it had the potential to be a hugely popular community event for years to come. Despite the undeniable gee-whiz factor of these gatherings, some have asked, could the ideas on display actually spawn effective solutions to real-world problems?

The Miami Mini Maker Faire

Aside from the communal sense of wonder, the most exciting quality of Maker Faires is to witness how the tools and thinking behind many of the projects found in them are rapidly evolving and being applied in fascinating new ways to improve lives and revolutionize industries.

In May in the Bay Area (host of the world’s largest Maker Faire with over 130,000 attendees and 1,100 makers), architects and engineers used 3-D software Sketch Up and CNC mills to produce components that could be latched together to construct custom-made houses and otherworldly living spaces. I was also moved by the MakerNurse initiative, which tracks do-it-yourself health technologies created by hospital nurses around the country and shares them with the medical community at large.

A month later, at the first White House Maker Faire, it was surreal to see a 3-D printed bust of President Obama among the many presidential busts lining the State Floor. I was particularly blown away by SolePower, a Pittsburgh-based startup that invented a shoe insole that charges portable electronics by walking, and OpenROV, a low-cost open source underwater robot that links users to a community of ocean explorers around the world.

In a proclamation, the president declared June 18 a National Day of Making announcing a series of new initiatives led by 13 federal agencies and companies such as Etsy and Kickstarter to help makers launch new businesses and create jobs, expand the number of students that have the opportunity to become makers, and challenge makers to tackle the nations most pressing problems.

The president’s message was deeply gratifying because creating “programs, ceremonies, and activities that encourage a new generation of makers and manufacturers” is what MIAMade is all about. Since our launch in 2013, MIAMade has been connecting local do-it-yourself innovators to the wider maker community. This year, with the support of Knight Foundation, we launched the Miami Makers Initiative, a three-part series of events to bolster awareness, engagement and support for local makers in South Florida.

The Miami Makers Initiative kicked off with our 10-week Wynwood Maker Camp, launched this month at The LAB Miami to introduce local elementary school students to many of the same tools and projects showcased at Maker Faires and enhance their interest and confidence in pursuing careers in STEM fields.

Following the camp, MIAMade will host the DesignLife Make-a-thon, which will invite local engineers, coders and industrial designers to develop prototypes for home and lifestyle products using various maker technologies such as 3-miD printers, microcontrollers and CNC machines.

Capping it all off, the second annual Miami Mini Maker Faire will once again take over Wynwood on Nov. 8. This year we’re having a full-on street festival where camp and Make-a-thon participants will join over 100 makers of all stripes (artists, engineers, entrepreneurs and educators) to show what they’ve made and share what they’ve learned to an expected audience of over 3,000 attendees.

As if that weren’t enough to dispel doubts about the viability of the Maker Movement, AmeriCorps and the Maker Education Initiative have selected MIAMade to host the three-year Maker Americorps VISTA program, which assigns volunteers to help develop “maker hubs” in underserved areas. Starting this July, our VISTA members will make it easier for Miami’s inner city youth to have access to these same groundbreaking tools and programs the president tinkered with at the White House.

I strongly encourage anyone who wishes to exhibit his or her do-it-yoursellf creations at the Miami Mini Maker Faire to complete our online application by Sept. 30 makerfairemiami.com, and help grow the maker movement in South Florida.

Follow MIAMade on twitter at @MIA_Made.