Manufacturing ‘maker’ space designed to spur innovation

MAKING SPACE: Tood Thomas, founder of Tinker Bristol, says that Bristol has the potential to host a great incubator space because of features such as IYRS School of Technology & Trades and a strong arts program in the town. / COURTESY TODD THOMAS
MAKING SPACE: Tood Thomas, founder of Tinker Bristol, says that Bristol has the potential to host a great incubator space because of features such as IYRS School of Technology & Trades and a strong arts program in the town. / COURTESY TODD THOMAS

As the Maker Movement spread across the country, Todd Thomas became one of its leading supporters in Rhode Island.
An architect, Thomas sees the movement’s design and engineering enthusiasts well-aligned with the state’s history and economic future. When Newport officials were looking for redevelopment ideas for the former Sheffield School in the North End, Thomas proposed turning it into a hybrid “maker-space”/manufacturing business incubator, where local entrepreneurs could rent space and use shared equipment to advance their projects. When Thomas lost out to the Economic Development Foundation of Rhode Island, other communities became interested in his proposal. This fall, Thomas announced plans to open the state’s first manufacturing incubator, called Tinker Bristol, in the Bristol Industrial Park next spring.

PBN: How will Tinker be different from other “maker spaces” or the incubator Newport is planning at the former Sheffield School?
THOMAS: My understanding is that Newport wants to be more defense-oriented and a small-business incubator in the traditional sense of shared support services. What we are doing is a hybrid manufacturing incubator and maker space. What we do is provide CNC machines and 3-D printers, routers and laser cutters you would need for heavy R&D, rapid prototyping, proof of concept and small production. Hope and Main in Warren is a good example, except we will be manufacturing parts instead of salsa. A maker space is traditionally more club-oriented, something more social, where an incubator has desks and a shared copy center to save money. The long-term plan is to have support services where you can rent a desk and cubicle and office, then have maker space with tools to make things physically. Then on top of that we will work with intellectual-property attorneys and CPAs a couple times and year, plus the Small Business Development Center and Governor’s Workforce Board. There are accelerator elements we want to incorporate, like at Betaspring, the Hive or Founders League. The difference is things like software you can make on a laptop anywhere, but in manufacturing we have to have equipment and space to get product to proof of concept or make it better. That’s the niche we are looking to fill.

PBN: Why Bristol?
THOMAS: There are some great opportunities in Bristol. There’s a really fantastic arts program. You have the [IYRS School of Technology & Trades] and the Rhode Island marine and shipbuilding industry in the East Bay. These companies are doing work on composites that [are] some of best in world.

PBN: Will Tinker have a marine focus?
THOMAS: Tinker Bristol probably will have some marine focus with the population that will use it. In our long-term plan is replicating this around the state in four to five locations. We have been asked by Providence and North Kingstown to bring this model to their areas and we have been working with Commerce Rhode Island too.

PBN: Do you have mentors lined up yet?
THOMAS: Yes. We have worked with the national circle of maker spaces, folks from the Tech Valley Center of Gravity in Troy, N.Y., and others in Boston. But specifically in Rhode Island we have been working with manufacturers in Bristol and retirees from Raytheon and Hasbro, among others.

- Advertisement -

PBN: On an ongoing basis you hope to fund Tinker through memberships and renting space, but do you have grants and financing to cover the upfront expenses? THOMAS: We have a very generous offer from a person who runs a company in Massachusetts for $50,000 to $70,000 worth of computers, hardware and office equipment. Also a Rhode Island philanthropic institution in the next month will announce $50,000 seed funding. We are filing 501(c)(3) papers. Also some grant applications are in process with [the Champlin Foundations] and other major philanthropies, plus we are looking at some federal grants.

PBN: Is there a lot of renovation that needs to happen to the space?
THOMAS: We are planning on being in about 14,000 square feet of the Bristol Industrial Park.

PBN: How soon can you have this up and running?
THOMAS: We have the ability to start holding events in January for fundraising. We are hoping in the spring to have the maker space and community activities going and early summertime to have the incubator up and running.

PBN: Other than fundraising, what will you be doing between now and then?
THOMAS: The biggest thing is we have three surveys asking people to help us figure out what equipment they want to come into Bristol. We want it to be what the community wants. We will be holding public-interest hearings for those who want to participate.

PBN: Where do you see Tinker in five years?
THOMAS: By that time I do see three to four other locations and also working with Hope & Main and Betaspring and trying to drive innovation in the state as a part of the advanced-manufacturing center being developed. We see ourselves as spokes around the hub of the advanced-manufacturing center. •

INTERVIEW
Todd Thomas
POSITION: Co-owner Thomas and Thomas Development Inc. and founder of Tinker Bristol
BACKGROUND: Originally from western Massachusetts, Thomas moved from Boston to Newport with his wife, co-owner of their design-build development company, after the couple realized they were spending too many weekends visiting.
EDUCATION: Bachelor’s in science from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in 1993; professional bachelor’s in architecture from RPI, 1994
FIRST JOB: Mowing lawns
RESIDENCE: Portsmouth
AGE: 42

No posts to display