Toolbox LA Grand Opening Recap
Today we officially opened our doors with a grand opening event featuring LA Mayor Eric Garcetti. Mayor Garcetti presented a Grand Opening certificate to us and chatted with our founder Noramay Cadena about his experience growing up in the San Fernando Valley and what he sees as key strengths about the greater Los Angeles area including freedom, innovation, and belonging.
Special guests included Senator Henry Stern and the Clean Energy Smart Manufacturing Innovation Institute.
We discussed smart manufacturing, robots, and the future of work on separate panels with the help of :
- Sudesh Arora, CEO of NEO Tech
- Sonja Rosula, Founder of Unique Empire
- Bob Goldberg, Founder of Earth Island
- Z Holly, Founder of MAKE IT IN LA
- SK Gupta, Director of Center for Advanced Manufacturing, USC
- Ben Dickow, Director of Columbia Memorial Space Center
- Roberto Gutierrez, Program Manager of LA Valley College
We gave Mayor Garcetti a personal tour of the facility to learn more what about our vibrant, dynamic community of creators are doing here. He toured our makerspace, learned about the 3D printing services company that operates here, the research going on in the biotech incubator with Lab Launch, and Make In LA’s portfolio companies.
Our friends at Downey Space Center launched some water rockets with the help of Holmes Middle School students. They were inspired by all the activity and well, who wouldn’t want to blast off a rocket into the sky?
Through our partnership with Intersect LA, a new endeavor from the visual communications department at California State University, Northridge, we had quality support in making sure the logistics of the day ran smoothly. Special thanks to Dave Moon for bringing the energy, expertise, and students.
The day concluded with a delicious taco lunch and a good deal of networking.
Thank you to all who participated and attended!
Originally published at Toolbox LA.
