Business as Usual: Community Accelerators and Maker Spaces

Transcription: 

So good afternoon, everyone. Happy Friday. This is Audrey Russo, President and CEO, the Pittsburgh Technology Council. I'm joined today, as always, Jonathan kersting. He's vice president of all things media and marketing and storytelling, he actually helped launch a new microsite called get PGH. And we're telling lots of stories there. So today is a great day as well, like we've been really working hard to make sure that we're providing relevance to all of you is your home and, or wherever you may be, as you're joining us. And I will introduce our guests in one moment, want to give a shout out and deep appreciation to Huntington bank, partners of ours for a long time really heavily involved in the business community, we're very, very active at the onset of the pandemic. And if there's another inflection point, in terms of PPP, we know that we're going to have a lot of activity and supporting our members. During that period of time as well. We also are pleased to talk about 40 by 80. That's the longitude and latitude of Pittsburgh is a wholly owned subsidiary of the tech Council. It's a 501 c three, and our focus there, and you'll hear more about it over time, our focus is to support not only entrepreneurship, but workforce development for the people who actually are here across our region. So we've muted your mics and our mics just so that we don't hear any noise in the background. And I'm hoping that my dogs will behave, because my mic won't be muted. But we also have a chat. And that chat is for you to ask questions of our guests, and just the show is all about our guests, is not about selling your wares. It is all about our guests. So if you can adhere to that we're gonna have some fun, and I'm thrilled that I can jump in right now and introduce two people. We have Chancellor Kevin Snyder from Penn State New Kensington, and Devin Montgomery, founder and CEO of proto Heyman. So welcome both, and we're gonna jump we're gonna start right with Chancellor Snyder. He is a busy man, and I'm very thrilled that he's taking the time to be with us today. Welcome to the program. Thank you for all the work that we do before we start jumping in and talking about the Digital Foundry. Let's talk about you introduce yourself. Let's talk about a little bit about your professional journey. How you got to what you're doing right now. And first question, I hope that you're doing well, and that you're safe and sound.

Thank you. I am and I appreciate being asked to be on the show. It's great to be talking about something other than COVID. So really delighted to do that. I yeah, I I'm we were just talking before the show what people may not know about me, although I've been pretty vocal lately is I grew up and spent some time in Africa. I was born in Canada and adopted by Americans and went to Africa and lived in Pittsburgh a couple years and California in DC for graduate work. And I came to Pittsburgh out of Indiana State University in Terre Haute, Indiana, where I was involved in trying to set a direction for that university to attract students found that the university was inextricably linked to the fate of the city it was in. And so when I was looking for next move, I needed a place that had that type of a challenge and New Kensington fit that bill. And so came here and had been here about 13 years and just delighted with the area and with the with the region we're in.

That's great. There's exciting things going on. So let's let's talk talk about the overview of Penn State New Kensington a little bit and then what your focus has been and our phone.

Right. And you know, as you probably know, the state of Pennsylvania is really struggling a little bit with student enrollments because the population is going down. And that's really impacting the cities that we're in in the areas that we're in as populations are smaller and more people are leaving. So our focus has been for 13 years I've been here on trying to figure out a way to improve the communities to help with economic revitalization and do that in ways that facilitate student learning. We have a mixed student body on our campus and since of some of our students go to University Park after two years or up to Erie or another campus to pursue a degree that we don't have, and an increasing number actually stay in the area and major in one of our 10 majors or I in one of our two associate degrees. So we have a little bit of a mix of people, um, most of our students from the area although we're starting to see a large number of people coming, a larger number of students coming from outside of the state to New Kensington to take advantage of the programs that we'll talk about them.

So let's talk about the Digital Foundry. You know why what?

Yeah, it's actually part of a program that started with the corner, which was a Penn State Initiative to provide entrepreneurial training to students and community members who had ideas. The idea would be by putting the corner in New Kensington, could we spur economic revitalization by building an ecosystem, a place for co working a place for training, a place for makerspace. And so we got started with two pieces of that the CO working and the entrepreneurial training to try and revitalize the downtown area. And that really has taken off and it spawned a whole new way of thinking. And we really realized that if all we did was bring people in and out of a corner, in New Kensington, we weren't really going to do anything. So we started to think about how do we create walkable pathways in that city that people would feel comfortable doing? And how do we attract business. So we came up with the idea of a corridor of innovation. And that's when things took off. When we did that, we got research from Penn State research from Carnegie Mellon, researchers who came into to ask what we were doing and were interested, but we also got big industry in the area, Siemens and our conic. For the for the most part, they said they were dealing with something called industry 4.0. And that is really what started the Digital Foundry. And I'll explain why. The The idea was when we got into industry 4.0, we're not training our students in higher education or in K through 12. Really, for the world that's coming, right, we're training them for the world that has been, we need them to get into the world of smart cities and smart factories and smart devices where technology is going to be compete, continually disruptive. And we're going to be thrust into digital environments and having to change so we knew that we had to do some things differently. And we also knew we needed a makerspace. And so when I and so from an educational point of view, we knew we had to change everything that we were doing to try and get students ready for that world and get them into the digital environment. We would pitch that to rk Mellon, the rk Mellon Foundation and they said, You know what? We like this, we know you need to make your space. Let's get in as partners. And so we've been able to partner with them with the economic growth connection, and the with with the W IDC out of Westmoreland County to try and figure out how do we develop a makerspace. And we said, you know what we're trying to prepare students for the digital age. What about our digital makerspace. And that has been what really spurred the idea of the foundry. It's important that to note that there were about 5500 manufacturing companies in this area in southwestern Pennsylvania, that are in danger of being left behind as we start to get into the digital age. And so the focus of this boundary is really on, how do we help them first it's a way of helping make the foundry sustainable. But then secondly, how do we do that for various populations for K through 12, for displaced workers, for our students at Penn State, New Kensington for the community at large. And so we're working looking at the digital foundries of place where the digital world comes to life. It's a place that companies can come in and test drive technologies they wouldn't be able to afford, and we can help get them acclimated and on their way into the digital age. And so that's really what that concepts about.

That's exciting. That's great. Thank you. And thank you for spending the time with us. I want to I just want to switch gears right now. I want to bring Devin Montgomery on and welcome Devin.

Yeah, thank you for having me,

man. It's great to have you. Let's talk about you. You being safe. Everything's good on your end. You feeling okay?

Uh, yeah, yeah. I'm here at Purdue even in the shop. And yeah, masks all the things I've taken off because I'm in our conference room, but yeah.

Great. Tell us about your journey. Tell us about the creation photo haven.

Yeah, um, so I guess my my sort of career journey, I graduated from college and started working actually for Habitat for Humanity. I did that for a few years out in Maryland, and met my wife there. And then we moved here to Pittsburgh, to I went to both business and law school here at Pitt. And as I was finishing that up, I sort of found my way into product design, by way of making a backpacking stove. In release, oh, yes, yes. called the back country boiler. No longer in production, but a wonderful learning experience. And that sort of turned me towards a really a career in product design, both in physical products and some software products. And through the course of that gotten involved in in maker spaces and saw the value. You know, just as Kevin was was mentioning of As a product designer, you know, being able to access equipment that you didn't have to shell out all the money for, you didn't have to necessarily maintain all of your own, and also the kind of natural network that it creates. So the the space that I had been a member of Windows away and closed. And so I and some other folks that saw the value of that kind of space, but also wanted to see that kind of space used and really positioned as a community asset for info haven as a 501, c three, nonprofit organization, to keep those kinds of those kinds of assets and that kind of, you know, community around in the Pittsburgh region. So we're, we're here in in Williamsburg. And some of the things that we wanted to also make sure that we were doing was, you know, raising the kind of way that, you know, those spaces were inclusive and were accessible. And the way in which they could really focus on you know, ice maker spaces as, as lowering the barriers to entry, to making physical products or to pursue pursuing something that has to do with physicality, as a career, and, and making sure that we find out what those barriers are, whether it's a piece of equipment, whether it's education, in terms of developing, you know, either equipment skills, or through some of our partners, business skills, that can help people, you know, either as, as a way of making a living, or just in terms of enriching their lives, being able to make physical things. Because, for me, it was something that I I started doing relatively late, or relatively recently in life. Um, it was kind of a watershed moment. And, and I and I think that people who are excited about it, I want to share that kind of thing with everybody.

So you're in wilkinsburg? And you did, you were able to secure equipment from Tech Shop, which is what what Devin was referring to that is no longer in Pittsburgh, so you were able to get their equipment.

Yeah, so So we, um, we started, when we started, we were all volunteers and members. So we started without a space, we started with just just a bunch of people who like to make things and wanted to do something. So we, we pretty quickly, were able to get a room one room and what is now are the building that we have. And, and then after that we were able to, through through a loan, secure that secure that equipment at quite a good, quite good price. So So we really started off memberships, in terms of financial support of volunteers, and in terms of, you know, the day to day running of it, we were able to, to then grow, expand to our full building, with some grant funding from the Henrico human foundation. They've also provided the homeland Foundation has provided some some, some follow up capacity building opportunities, so that it could we could have a professional staff and start to do some of the things that we wanted to do.

So tell us a little bit about the kind of equipment that you actually have.

Yeah, absolutely. Um, so. So you know, as as Kevin said, we have a lot of digital fabrication equipment. So that starts with what folks are probably most familiar with in terms of, you know, laser cutters, 3d printers, simpler things like like vinyl cutting, we have larger pieces of equipment. So things like a CNC router, CNC plasma cutter, we just got a large format, larger laser cutters, well, CNC Mills, things like that on the digital side. But we also have a fair amount of sort of more analog traditional fabrication equipment from a welding area of metal shop and wood shop. And I think a lot of our users really like having access to those two things. So you know, the digital equipment is fantastic for doing things, you know, repeatedly. And, and, and, you know, without requiring a craftsmans skill, but then being able to integrate into those analog traditional tools to add some of that, you know, some of that, that handcrafted feel are some of those things that are actually easier to create with the old school tools than then going digital.

Okay, so it's a membership. It's a membership model people come in, they use it like a gym membership, right?

Yeah, yes, we have a few different ways in which we operate. Um, so we have classes, some now more before and after COVID where folks can come in and learn how to use the equipment. Then when folks are up to a certain degree of comfort, they can become members and sort of use it, you know, on their own. We also do a number of sort of community projects. So we've done several of these either sort of over the years, most notably and as we were talking about earlier, when when the shutdowns happened The spring started a pretty major PBE both face shields and facemask design and production effort and partnered with a number of other organizations and small businesses to be part of that effort.

Thank you for doing that. That's a great pivot. Thank you so much. I want to I want to shift back to Chancellor Kevin Snyder Really? now and I want to talk about I think you mentioned earlier just about all the changes in the Trent and the vision for this work, but you really changing a neighborhood in the community. And if you think about all the different people that are actually in some of these more suburban, right, and maybe close to rural communities, having a center and having a an location, how has that been? And in terms of COVID? And are you still seeing the excitement and proliferation of ambassadors, really,

I think, you know, one of the one of the only benefits of COVID has been that, if you can call it that has been the realization of people that we are in the digital age, I mean, what we're doing right now is digital age, right? It's changing the way that you're having to lead, it's changing the way that you're having to connect with people, it's changing it on the way that we do our business. And so we had a lot of trouble earlier, trying to convince people that a disruption was going to be a thing in our lives, and be that that disruption would have to do with technology. COVID changed all that six days, Ben state went completely virtual back in March. And that was just a phenomenal undertaking. And lots and lots of organizations have done that. And they realize now that this is not going to go away, I mean, businesses that have decided, before COVID, that we were never going to have people go virtual are now thinking about why do I need to invest all this space, like, I'm getting a lot of productivity out of people. So it has really added to the excitement around the Digital Foundry, I think and people can't wait until it gets open. And it's probably going to be open in December, which you know, a year from now. But we've got lots of programming and things that people are interested in learning about different technologies and kind of building awareness of what those technologies are, and how they can help people not just in manufacturing, but in all professions. And so there's been a lot of energy and a lot of interest in this. And some of that has been supported by this pandemic.

And but are you seeing that people are excited about the community too, because hopefully, that takes some spread in terms of Absolutely,

I mean, right? Well, before COVID right before COVID, you were starting to see a street in New Kensington, a downtown area that had been boarded up for a long time come back to life teeming with people walking down the streets, going into the brewery, going into shops around the brewery, starting to come down to eat at the need cafe and places like that. And so we've really seen a lot of energy and a lot of excitement. And then when COVID hit that put a little bit of a damper on it. But you know, people can't wait to get back. And they keep asking us, you know, what our plans are. And we're getting a lot of interest from the business and the manufacturing community about the opportunities we're going to be able to provide. And we also have seen an uptick in the number of people who have an interest in entrepreneur ism. You know, and I think as people start to think about, you know, their roles and their jobs, and they want to do something exciting, like Devin is doing, you know, they're they're starting to find that maybe there are some opportunities for that, that that the pandemic is brought either through some unfortunate circumstances or just causing people to reevaluate their lives.

And so is there a coffee shop there now in a brewery?

Well, the coffee shop, unfortunately, I think has fallen victim to COVID the brewery is still going to take down, we did break it down in on Fifth Avenue in New Kensington. And there's a really unique as you can or pays to go. cafe called the need cafe that has been there since we opened up our our facility as well. And that is a really, really neat, neat place. So if you get a chance, you go in and you might say you know the going price for for a meal. But if you give a little bit high, you're paying for the person behind you and they have some. So you might go in alone, you might sit with the person next to you and you have no idea what walk of life came from but you can get into

and what's the name of that place? What's the name of

a cafe a and e ad?

It's great. That's great. And so, Tevin, what about in wilkinsburg? What are you seeing in welcomes work, now that you have your footprint there, even though it's been COVID?

Yeah, um, I think things have gotten kind of quiet. Um, you know, in light of COVID I think, you know, since we've been here, so it's been about three years that we've been here and I've just been really excited by all of the all the positives. You know, community developments that there have been, we had some really good opportunities, actually it through COVID to work with some other nonprofits here in wilkinsburg, so both the freestore operated by civically, we were able to partner with them to do some facemask distribution, the same is true with a Santa's house and work within as well for facemask, you know, distribution. I know I just think there, there are a lot of really exciting things going on, you know, broadly, in terms of the development of the Bureau, you know, as well as, as some other, you know, organizations that are working, you know, here, I know that when we, when we first started here, it was a little bit after community Forge, which is a sort of a community center that is operated out of a former elementary school here in town, we were able to do you know, to do some work with them in you know, from from a makers point of view, which is, I think that I think about a lot, you know, knots land has just moved on to the other side of Trenton Avenue where we are, so we're really excited about that, um, you know, in our So, so, one thing that was true in terms of what we were looking for in a space is, you know, we wanted it, we wanted a shop, you know, we sort of wanted sort of, you know, a big space where folks could do big projects. So we're in sort of this light, industrial, you know, area. Um, but but what's interesting is even in that industrial area, you know, right across the street from us, there, there's a, it's not CrossFit, but it's just sort of broadly similar to a CrossFit gym. And just, you know, being part of I think the the, the exciting things that are going on in the borough has been a really, you know, fun thing to be part of, I know that, you know, there's a farmers market right down the street from us as well, that will hopefully return, you know, in the spring, I think there's a thing that I'm looking forward to it, I'm looking forward to, to this vaccine, right, being broadly distributed, so that we can, you know, get back to making some of these these physical communities as nice as these digital relationships. Right?

Right, that's great. It's great that you've taken a chance on this, and you've pivoted yourself. So you're, you're a great role model for any of your members and people who want to participate. So, so Chancellor, we, you know, in terms, we want to get youth excited about all this, right, you know, in terms of the intersection of art and technology and digital design and making things etc. What opportunities are there for people who are outside, you know, not ready, that are in college. But before that,

well, and actually, we've been involved with something called ABC create, which is a consortium of 14 school districts that we started years ago, to think about just that it's a collaboration with CMU. And what we decided to do is to try and take those excited advocates for technology and, and creative endeavors. And have them develop a network. So we could for the region, develop that type of thinking cross grades, across school districts, school districts are small. So you might have a real advocate, someone who's really excited about technology and creativity in third grade, and then maybe people are interested in other things and, and not really portraying that to students, they've developed pathways to basically get it this type of thinking. And it's not just for college bound students, it's for any student who's coming out of high school right now they need to know about the opportunities, and the skill sets and the thinking that has to go into surviving during the digital age. And so that's really what we've been trying to develop. And it's just, it's been a great fit now into what we're calling the future readiness thinking. And so, you know, as soon as they come into our campus, we'll have an opportunity to integrate and to be interns and deal with companies and find out about technology and use it, regardless of the major that they're in. And I think that is so important. So there are a lot of lots of opportunities to get engaged. There's also lots of opportunities for community members to get engaged. And I think, you know, that's another thing you know, no matter what, where you are, if you are a displaced worker, or if you are in the workforce now, the odds are that you're going to be asked to retrain, and some of that training will come around technology and digitization. So we think we can serve that role and serve it well. Not just for our community, but because it's digital, we want to be able to be a model for communities around Pittsburgh in Pittsburgh is really revitalized on technology revitalization and so Pittsburgh county technical Technology Council, right. So when we take that and start to get it into communities like New Kensington them Anakin and McKeesport and places like that. That's really what we want to do. And I'm, by the way, Devin, I am delighted I'm really jazzed to hear that you have taken the Tech Shop and put it where you are, I'm just that place was amazing. I can't wait to come over and see your place and see if we might be able to collaborators? Well,

right, I would think together would create some additional magic, because of your commitment to economic development as well as access to, to makerspace.

I look forward to it. Yeah, I

just think that's the great thing about this. Audrey is this community of people who think like, like this, that are excited and, and interested in kind of breaking down barriers and helping communities and Pittsburgh's just full of them. And developing that network has been just probably one of the most exciting things about this whole project to me. So, Devin, I can't wait.

That's great. So Devin, what about in your space? What about your, for youth? Are they? Are they able to be members? Do you have an age limit?

Yeah, so that's a good question. Um, you know, for us, again, before the pandemic, we sort of had two spaces in our space, we have what we call the studio, which is our all ages area, and it does have things like laser cutters, like the smaller laser cutters, like the 3d printers, like a graphics area, and textiles and things like that. And that's an all ages space. So we do currently ask, you know, you know, kids, when they come to, you know, either, you know, come with parents, or, or as part of some, you know, school or other, you know, other educational program. Um, I think a lot of what we started to do recently, and some of this has happened, you know, during the pandemic is, you know, an important thing for us, that we really think about a lot is, you know, we're not we're obviously not all making in Pittsburgh, right. And so we think a lot about the other, you know, organizations and the programs that focus on making for kids. So I know, you know, we're really good friends with with Nina and assemble, and we think they do fantastic programming, also, you know, remake learning and their focus on on making and making in schools, that's really encouraging. So, you know, I think we will always look for opportunities to, you know, where we can safely you know, engage with, with, with young people in an age appropriate way, you know, wanting to do that. But also, I think, that I think a lot about is is trying to be as I think Kevin was, was saying, to some degree as well, is trying to be a part of that, really, that sort of like maker, you know, a pathway, right. So, with everybody in the region that's thinking about making exposing students to that from a very early age. Before we came alive, we were talking, some of us with Brian, we're talking about your Pinewood Derby cars, I do that with my son, I do not do that in a fancy digital way. We did that with a, you know, a small vise in all hand tools in our garage, and he made it as much of it as I could get him to make, um, you know, but starting there, and having people really see this as, as not just a meaningful, you know, career path, which I think it is, and I think a lot of people could could benefit from seeing it in that way. But also just sort of, in my opinion, a fundamental human experience of being able to have that agency to create a physical thing. And so we really want to be part of that pathway for people to be able to make during their lives.

No,

one,

I'm sorry, I was just gonna say that, um, to me, what what industry 4.0 is shown in the digital age is that entrepreneur ism is not an endeavor anymore. It's a way of thinking. And that way of thinking is really important, even to big companies. And that's what got to start on the Digital Foundry. I places like our Connick, we're saying, We need intrapreneurs people that think entrepreneurially and find ways to increase efficiency. And in the social sector, they need people to do the same thing to improve the human condition. And so that type of activity that you're talking about that creativity and the application of creative problem solving in new and innovative ways, I think it's going to be very, very important not only to the businesses that around us, but also to individuals as they try to negotiate and navigate a different pathway through professional careers.

Well, I have like an internal hypothesis that says some of the best people to work with are ones who make things. Yeah. Whether they do that in their garage, whether they're working on a car, no matter what it may be. People who either Tinker or actually bolt out, make stuff even if it's like the loom. What happened to the loom? Devin, did that go with you? from Tech Shop? They had a massive loom?

Oh, I was gonna say i think i think Andrew Carnegie's first job as a child was was with the thing that replaced the loom in terms of industry, but we do not get to lose, unfortunately,

right. But But the point is, is that it's across its across the spectrum in terms of making things so My hat's off to both of you. I'm so glad that the both of you are going to figure out some ways to collaborate. We have other makerspaces across our community. And supporting lambdas is essential. It's essential for our youth, it's essential for an aging population. I think it doesn't matter what age you are. So my hat's off to both of you for having the passion for Devin for making pivots in your own professional career, and being committed to developing what you're doing now. And wilkinsburg. And Chancellor Snyder, thank you so much for being with us. We have a lot of passion. And I know that it's going to be very successful when we have a vaccine and we're all back together. And we can visit we can hang out Jonathan will ride his bike and see you and we'll be making stuff.

I don't learn to weld Audrey Andes and blacksmithing.

Nice. Nice. So I want to thank everyone for joining us and we're together again next week for a few days. Anything what's in the hopper, Jonathan,

we have a fantastic business as usual on Monday, you cannot miss this we have Paul mango, who's leading an operation warp speed vaccine, its distribution. This is a this is a must see business as usual.

Well, this was a must see as well. So I'm glad all of you have joined us and be safe and have a happy holiday if I don't talk to Devin or to Chancellor. So thank you so much for joining us. And they have you and everyone.

You too. Thanks very much,

you guys.

Thank you all

Transcribed by https://otter.ai