Manufacturing design to be in focus at Garage

STORY TO TELL: A speed-mentoring session facilitated by Hannah Chung, co-founder of Sproutel, showcased some of Rhode Island’s top woman-owned businesses at the May 14 Garage event. / COURTESY GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE
STORY TO TELL: A speed-mentoring session facilitated by Hannah Chung, co-founder of Sproutel, showcased some of Rhode Island’s top woman-owned businesses at the May 14 Garage event. / COURTESY GREATER PROVIDENCE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE

Jerry the Bear, Sproutel Inc.’s first toy made to help children diagnosed with a chronic illness learn through play, will ship to 250 buyers at the end of November.
Last summer, the Providence startup did testing with 350 children and had “some really fantastic results,” co-founder and CEO Aaron Horowitz said in a recent phone interview with Providence Business News.
“We were really excited that the kids who were newly diagnosed who played with Jerry averaged 21 hours in the first week,” he said. “It just shows the level of engagement they have with the product and their potential to learn to take care of Jerry and build real-world skills they can use for the rest of their lives.”
That news is just part of the story Horowitz plans to share with as many as 150 participants attending the Oct. 29 event The Garage, the Greater Providence Chamber of Commerce’s answer to previous incarnations of the two-decades-old Business Expo.
Unlike the expo, the new format features talks, panel discussion and interactive conversations. Focusing on “The Intersection of Design and Manufacturing” in Rhode Island, the talents, ideas, innovations and success stories that are so abundant here will be presented between the hours of 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Rhode Island School of Design’s Chace Center at 20 North Main St.
The fall “Mini-Garage” is smaller than its first showing last spring, when about 1,000 people attended at the R.I. Convention Center, said Chamber President Laurie White.
“It’s a gathering of people coming together randomly and spontaneously,” she said. “The idea is to be casual and informal and random. That’s the way people interact these days; it’s more natural.”
That said, the Garage is structured around a fairly fixed schedule that includes a Knowledge Economy Community Forum led by Innovation Providence, which measures statewide progress and determines strategy, at 2 p.m.; a panel discussion by former and current Rhode Island School of Design professors introduced by RISD President John Maeda entitled, “Design, Manufacturing and the Art of Making Things” at 3 p.m.; and a Networks of Innovation Showcase featuring Verizon, Betaspring and other small companies, including Sproutel, at 4:15 p.m. A two-hour reception that starts at 5:30 p.m. caps the event.
The goal of The Garage is to provide insight into the role that innovative thinking and design plays in Rhode Island’s economic-development strategy, White said.
“The companies chosen were in this industry intersection of design, manufacturing and innovation,” and will elaborate on their growth trajectory and how it has evolved, explained White.
During the Showcase, Verizon and Betaspring, which have partnered to help startup companies innovate and grow in Rhode Island, will share ways they have helped transform the marketplace. Likewise, smaller companies like Sproutel and Lee Allen Eyewear will tell their stories.
“My business partner Declan [Halpin] and I established both our business and friendship on the principles of collaboration,” said Lee Allen Kuczewski, co-founder of Lee Allen Eyewear. “Our story has been about the coming together of technology with design. Eyewear is not just a medical device, but rather a functional piece of art that adorns the wearer. Our hope as two young founders is to establish and grow an innovative company that delivers more than just what is seen.”
The company recently outfitted Maeda with a pair of glasses made from scratch, Kuczewski said.
Jose Escobar, managing principal of Verizon Enterprise Global Strategies Group, will discuss how large companies such as Verizon drive innovation, what investors are looking for and the importance of market opportunity for strengthening business locally and globally, said Michele Cinquegrano, regional director of Verizon Government Affairs, in an emailed statement. “Verizon is participating in The Garage because these types of events attract companies and community leaders interested in cultivating a culture of innovation,” Cinquegrano said. “There is a lot happening in Rhode Island, and Verizon wants to be at the center of conversations that are driving great ideas that strengthen companies and lead to economic growth.”
Rosanne Somerson, RISD’s provost and chief academic officer, and co-editor of “The Art of Critical Making,” helped select the panelists that will follow Maeda’s short presentation.
Maeda “is very excited about the book and the art of critical making,” said White. “He’s been passionate about this subject since he came to Rhode Island. We’ve had a very good relationship with RISD and his team suggested we use these as the next set of themes.”
RISD has always been tied to the development of industry and small business, Somerson said, but more recently has assumed the role of cooperatively working with local partners to “move that agenda more consciously forward.”
The book illustrates how an art and design education can have an impact beyond the traditional ways it is understood, she said. The concept of the art of making helps carry forward the panel’s theme of how art and design help foster innovation and economic development, she said.
“I hope the audience gets a broader understanding of the role RISD and our students and alumni can play in really shaping the economy of this area for the future,” Somerson said, “so Rhode Island can be seen as a site and center for innovation.” •


For more information or to register for The Garage, call the Chamber at 401-521-5000 or visit the website at www.thegarageri.com/index.html.

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