Maker Movement Panel Discusses Future Manufacturing Opportunities

On Thursday, March 19, the Golden Corridor Advanced Manufacturing Partnership (GCAMP) hosted a screening of "Maker the Movie" at the Prairie Arts Center. The movie discussed the "maker movement" which is an outlet where students, hobbyists, professionals and novices gather to find fun and creative solutions to everyday problems, engineer basic and complicated tools, and build beautiful works of art. GCAMP hosted this event in cooperation with the Villages of Elk Grove, Hoffman Estates, and Schaumburg which brought in over 200 attendees from the three communities. The Maker Movie event was held in an effort to advance GCAMP's mission of ensuring a sustainable supply of skilled manufacturing workers in the Chicago area.

Following the movie, Gary Skoog, President of GCAMP, moderated a discussion on the maker movement among five panelists. Each of the panelists has had a varying degree of expertise in the fields of manufacturing, science and technology. The panel included Elizabeth Koprucki of Chicago Innovation Exchange, Warren Young from ACME Industries, Gary Pilafis of Hitachi Data Systems, and Steve Rauchenberger of the Technology & Manufacturing Association. After a detailed discussion of the maker movement and its impact on the region, the panelists answered questions from the event's attendees. Many of the questions were related to the future of the manufacturing industry, opportunities to get more involved in the maker movement and the potential for a maker lab in northern Illinois. For more information on the Golden Corridor Advanced Manufacturing Partnership, visit their website at www.gcamp.org.