Tinker|Bristol represents R.I. at maker summit at White House

TODD THOMAS, founder of Tinker Bristol, represented Rhode Island at the 2016 National Week of Makers held in Washington D.C. last week. / COURTESY TODD THOMAS
TODD THOMAS, founder of Tinker Bristol, represented Rhode Island at the 2016 National Week of Makers held in Washington D.C. last week. / COURTESY TODD THOMAS

BRISTOL – With a shared goal of keeping alive “American ingenuity,” a group of innovation and manufacturing leaders, including Todd Thomas of Tinker|Bristol, convened at the White House last week for a summit.
Thomas, co-founder and president of the nonprofit manufacturing incubator and co-working space Tinker|Bristol, represented Rhode Island at the 2016 National Week of Makers held in Washington D.C. The summit, born from the President’s Nation of Makers Initiative, was organized by the White House Office of Science and Technology and the Domestic Policy Council and comprised “maker leaders” from each of the 50 states. The group of manufacturers and innovators formalized a “network of makers,” which it says is a nationwide coalition of maker-to-manufacturing leaders, according to a press release. Beyond forming the networking group, the summit also focused on creating new tools to help boost the innovation industry.
“The administration announced an array of new steps to deepen their connections to the maker movement, help more makers bring their ideas and prototypes to scale, and help get more communities involved,” according to the release. “The goal is to boost manufacturing jobs and businesses; promote advanced manufacturing R+D and product development; and educate the 21st century workforce.”
Tinker|Bristol is among a number of Rhode Island incubators, accelerators and share-spaces that’s trying to provide a platform to boost innovation in the startup community.
Following the summit, Thomas stayed to showcase Tinker|Bristol in the National Maker Faire at the University of the District of Columbia. He showcased a Sea Potential wave energy device, which is being developed in Bristol and will compete in the final round of the U.S. Department of Energy Wave Energy Competition this summer, according to the release.
“Rhode Island has been on the vanguard of the maker movement since Umberto Crenca – who was honored last week at the White House as one of the ’10 Champions of Change’ – founded AS220 in Providence,” according to the release. “Building on that tradition of innovation, Tinker|Bristol is developing a hybrid maker manufacturing hub in the historic Bristol Industrial Park to help create jobs, grow manufacturing businesses and promote 21st century making in Rhode Island.”

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