Kevin Mako Keynotes Ryerson’s Design Fabrication Zone Launch

Strategic Partnerships are a great way to strengthen an industry. At MAKO, we tactically develop relationships that warrant remarkable improvements to the communities and industries involved. Most importantly, we want to make sure that these partnerships leave footprints that can impact our community and business innovations for generations to come. This is exactly the kind of impact that we aim to establish at Ryerson University.

Ryerson’s Zone Learning programs have been extremely progressive, enhancing the hands-on experience for students and encouraging youth entrepreneurship. This week, the Design Fabrication Zone hosted the DFZ Open House, providing guests with the chance to check out some of the most innovative student projects and get an overview of the DFZ’s plans for the years to come.

The DFZ began as a collaboration between Ryerson’s School of Interior Design and the Department of Architectural Science and flourished into a cross-disciplinary hub for design and fabrication innovation and entrepreneurship. The Incubator focuses on the acceleration of ideas to provide students with pragmatic design learning and preparation for business innovation. It’s an incredible space for student-driven initiatives to be fostered and for students to be mentored through interdisciplinary collaboration.

Last Year, MAKO Invent and the Design Fabrication Zone at Ryerson University jointly hosted the MAKO Brookfield Innovation Award at Ryerson University and the Digital Media Zone. We were extremely impressed by the magnificent displays that the students had developed. Each student’s project was a perfect reflection of the value of incubation programs like the DFZ. Students utilized their resources and created innovative, cutting-edge designs that were truly remarkable.

Our President, Kevin Mako, is passionate about supporting these programs as he understands the importance of entrepreneurial experience at such a young age. In his heartening speech at the DFZ Open House, Kevin spoke of the value of such strategic relationships. “The results that such strategic collaborations bring are results that can impact our youth for generations to come,” said Kevin, “collaborative partnerships are necessary for establishing a progressive culture of product innovation”.

Our love for the product development industry is not solely caused by product innovation. It is the combination of knowing that we are establishing a stronger economic community, and business innovations for the future while preparing our students to excel their entrepreneurial skills. However, to secure such advancements, we need to invest in the younger generation. After all, they are the future of tomorrow.

About: MAKO Design + Invent is the original firm providing world-class consumer product development services tailored to startups, small manufacturers, and inventors. Simply put, we are the leading one-stop-shop for developing your physical product from idea to store shelves, all in a high-quality, cost-effective, and timely manner. We operate as one powerhouse 30-person product design team spread across 4 offices to serve you (Austin, Miami, San Francisco, & Toronto). We have full-stack in-house industrial design, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, patent referral, prototyping, and manufacturing services. To assist our startup and inventor clients, in addition to above, we help with business strategy, product strategy, marketing, and sales/distribution for all consumer product categories. Also, our founder Kevin Mako hosts The Product Startup Podcast, the industry's leading hardware podcast. Check it out for tips, interviews, and best practices for hardware startups, inventors, and product developers. Click HERE to learn more about MAKO Design + Invent!