University-Based Makerspaces: A Source of Innovation

Makerspaces are becoming more common on university campuses, but there is great variation in what constitutes a makerspace. On some campuses, many departmental classroom laboratories are being renamed or repurposed as makerspaces. Alternatively, other colleges are creating college-wide makerspaces for their students, and a few universities are even creating makerspaces for their entire campuses or their entire communities.

This paper presents the idea that university makerspaces can be a great source of innovation if they are properly conceived. Makerspaces that seek to create innovation should have certain characteristics. However, many of these characteristics do not come naturally to university-based makerspaces. Instead, a deliberate effort must be made to help promote innovation from a makerspace. In fact, many makerspace models inadvertently and explicitly exclude characteristics that are important to innovation. For example, a makerspace that is created by an engineering college might be more innovative if it allowed the use of the space by students outside of engineering (e.g., art, history, business). Making this happen might require a different funding structure or a different physical location for the makerspace.

Of course, no direct recipe or checklist exists that will ensure innovation. However, this paper lists characteristics that should be considered when designing or operating a makerspace. It is suggested that these characteristics will lead to increased makerspace innovation. The goal of this paper is to make makerspace administrators and participants aware of characteristics of the space that may lead to increased innovation.