Jim Correll, director Fab Lab ICC at Independence Community College, Independence Kansas 

An outbreak is usually something you don’t want to happen. In the movies, outbreak is usually some horrible, infectious and contagious disease that threatens the whole human race until the stars of the movie figure out how to contain and eradicate the disease. There is usually some internal conflict among the team members and many times some kind of love story thrown in. 

We’re seeing innovation and entrepreneurship in our region become contagious and infectious; an outbreak of a good kind. Since I’ve been paying attention, starting in 2006 with the launch of the Successful Entrepreneur Program at ICC, I’ve seen a gradual increase in innovation, but not the outbreak I’m seeing now. I believe the outbreak starts with a hunger for learning by doing and making. We all have it and it’s hard to satisfy without actually making. 

Teachers from all over the area have been coming to the Lab to visit and brainstorm about how get their students involved in making projects and things; experiential learning. The logistics and expense of transporting the students to the Fab Lab is always a challenge. Early next year, we’ll have a mobile Fab Lab and we’ll be working to make it available to area schools so the students can have the “make” experience without having to travel. 

Robotics clubs and classes are popping up all over. We have active robotics activity in our county. Before presenting about Fab Lab ICC to the Pittsburg (KS) Rotary club recently two girls from their high school robotics program made a brief announcement about the 100 pound robot they were preparing to build. 

At any given time, we are working with 8 – 10 entrepreneurs actively working to start businesses or bring new products to the marketplace though their existing businesses. Several times each year, we have an event called “E-Ship (Entrepreneurship) Showcase” where many of these entrepreneurs will display their businesses and products in a different kind of “meet and greet.”  

One thing we’ve learned, starting in the fall of 2012, with the advent of the Ice House entrepreneurship program in our community class called “Entrepreneurial Mindset” is that one doesn’t need a lot of money nor a business degree from a fancy business school to start a successful business. In fact, 98% of the Fortune 500 companies were started with less than $10,000. Entrepreneurship can be inclusive. Innovation can be inclusive too with the growing number of Fab Labs and maker spaces making expensive equipment and knowledge available to community members for low membership fees. 

We’ve been thinking for a while about how we might lower the barriers to women and veterans becoming involved with Fab Lab ICC and small business ownership. This is part of our overall plan to make entrepreneurship more inclusive. Turns out the $2B Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City is also very interested in lowering barriers and making entrepreneurship more inclusive. With the recent announcement that we were awarded an $82,000 grant for a program to help women get into business, our “Women 4 Women” program starts early in 2018. A big part of that program will be to connect our great area women entrepreneurs with women who have always wondered about getting into business, but lacked the knowledge and confidence to explore this option. 

The Entrepreneurial Mindset—the community class scheduled to roughly coincided with school semesters—makes people more self-confident; a special form the psychologists call self-efficacy. Self-efficacy is an essential ingredient in becoming an entrepreneur and small business owner and also has a positive effect on our personal lives as well. 

Jim Correll is the director of Fab Lab ICC at the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship on the campus of Independence Community College. He can be reached at (620) 252-5349 or by email at jcorrell@indycc.edu.