Florida Tech, Groundswell Startups Collaborate on Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design Prototype Lab
By Space Coast Daily // May 2, 2024
staff at both organizations will meet monthly to advance their shared objectives
CAMID: Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design
BREVARD COUNTY • MELBOURNE, FLORIDA – Two of the Space Coast’s most innovative and entrepreneurial organizations are joining forces to supercharge the region’s start-up and business development ecosystem.
Florida Tech’s Center for Advanced Manufacturing and Innovative Design, or CAMID, and Groundswell Startups’ Prototype Lab signed a one-year agreement in April. The mission, according to the agreement, is to “support action-oriented innovators scaling impactful businesses through community and collaboration” in Brevard County.
The synergy is strong. CAMID and the Prototype Lab both seek to empower people and companies through specialized expertise, access to cutting-edge equipment and technologies, mentoring and more.
“This partnership between CAMID and Groundswell Startups is the launchpad for innovative research and technology development on the Space Coast,” said Ryan Bailey, innovation director at Groundswell. “It will spur development of the local workforce in both tech and trade and ultimately the retention of talent and intellectual property in our community.”
CAMID Director Juan C. Avendano called the partnership “pioneering.”
“This collaboration is strategically designed to coordinate and optimize resources, fostering an environment where local companies, innovators, and entrepreneurs can thrive,” he said. “By leveraging our collective capabilities, we are setting the foundation for a flourishing innovation environment that promises to propel the regional economy forward and cement the Space Coast as a hub of creativity and technological advancement.”
Though there is much technology involved, people are at the core of the partnership.
The agreement allows for Florida Tech to send up to five students per semester to Groundswell Startups for 12-week internships. During this time the students will learn about “prototyping, engineering for manufacturing, design, and venture funding activities,” according to the agreement, as well as the elements of venture funding.
Both participants will have access to help them grow – Groundswell may reach out to the Florida Tech community to offer its prototyping and venture capacities, including additive manufacturing, subtractive manufacturing, and prototyping services; and CAMID may offer its prototyping and venture capacities to the Groundswell Startups community.
Additionally, staff at both organizations will meet monthly to advance their shared objectives in research, innovation and entrepreneurship.
“Like strapping boosters onto a rocket, CAMID and Groundswell will partner to power our entrepreneurial ecosystem to even greater heights,” said Florida Tech President John Nicklow. “And with internships, mentoring and other interactions, I am excited about our students getting new experiences to deepen their learning and enhance their success.”
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