Startups

Makerspace mania: No. 7 Baltimore tech trend of 2015

Lots of plans for housing Baltimore's maker movement were put on the books in 2015.

Mac Maclure, left, and Will Holman inside the future site of Open Works. (Photo by Jason Tashea)

Beyond individual stories, a tech community is defined by how its component parts work together. So, to look back at 2015, we’re unpacking 10 themes that kept popping up with big headlines all year long. See the full list of 2015 trends here.


Making stuff is increasingly being seen as key to Baltimore’s future.
We’ve heard about how it makes a lot of sense here because of the history of manufacturing and the port legacy. But what about the grassroots energy and big visions that define us now?
More than what skills will be taught, those ideals seem to be at the heart of several makerspace plans we’ve seen, such as the new location of The Foundery at City Garage, the plans for a maker village in former industrial properties in Southwest Baltimore and BARCO’s massive Open Works makerspace on Greenmount Avenue.
On paper, each appears to take cues from the community-oriented hackerspaces that have existed for several years, just with an added dash of scale. None of these are up and running yet, but 2015 will be remembered as the year that they all came about.

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