LEGOs® + MakerBots + Community = FirstBuild
I noticed the signs first.
“Community Welcome.”
“Collaborate. Contribute. Belong.”
“Think It. Make It.”
When’s the last time a big corporation asked you “How would you make our products better?” and then invited you into a beautiful, creativity-inspiring, cool-tool-filled place where you could do more than just offer suggestions but actually Make?
FirstBuild kicked off in a big way on Thursday, July 24, with a picture-perfect grand opening. GE, University of Louisville, and Metro Louisville officials shared the podium with our homegrown LVL1 Hackerspace and talked about the journey.
Like the products and innovations it’s intended to inspire, FirstBuild was born of a good idea – “How does a company shift to a market- and community-driven innovation strategy?” And the mindset seems one of “We’ll innovate as we go.” As GE’s Kevin Nolan says, “There’s no playbook for this.”
What I loved most was seeing a pile of LEGOs® on a table next to a CNC machine.
The message? Makers can use all kinds of tools to turn inspiration into reality.
I’m pretty proud to be a Maker in Louisville today.