Hamilton, ON – December 19, 2018 – Innovation Factory, Hamilton’s regional innovation centre, will expand into a $2.4 million collaborative space at McMaster Innovation Park, providing entrepreneurs with access to advanced equipment to design and build innovative new products.
Innovation Factory and its recently launched Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility, and The Forge, McMaster’s start-up incubator, will share the 10,000-square-foot space. The new space will provide a large collaborative area, new 3D printers and other fabricating equipment for start-ups to continue to grow their businesses and create new ideas.
An investment of up to $1.2 million provided to McMaster University by the Government of Canada through the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario (FedDev Ontario) for the expansion of The Forge makerspace was announced on December 14, 2018 by the Honourable Filomena Tassi, Minister of Seniors and Member of Parliament for Hamilton West-Ancaster-Dundas, on behalf of the Honourable Navdeep Bains, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development and Minister responsible for FedDev Ontario.
“We are thrilled with the expansion of McMaster Innovation Park to allow more entrepreneurial workspaces in Hamilton. Innovation Factory will be moving to the new space and will use the expanded footprint for our entrepreneurial programming, our Centre for Integrated Transportation and Mobility, the Synapse Life Science Consortium, and other initiatives,” said David Carter, Executive Director of Innovation Factory.
Since opening its doors in 2011, Innovation Factory has assisted over 1,700 local start-ups and has served 18,000 event attendees with regular programming and monthly events. As a result of Innovation Factory’s services, including business advisory support, training, programming and events, clients such as Nix Sensor Ltd. have gone on to raise more than $182 million in funding. With the expanded space and additional equipment, Innovation Factory expects to continue to grow Hamilton’s start-up community and the economic impacts it yields.
