Cornell University had its first Maker Faire on Saturday where student entrepreneurs were able to see presentations and hear speakers from the Ithaca-based professional entrepreneur community. Students also got to showcase their projects at the exhibition.
Maker Faires are held worldwide to highlight works from makers of STEM, humanities, art and startup communities. The event was held at the Arts Quad and featured on-campus clubs and project teams that ranged from across all undergraduate colleges.
Simran Shinh '20 said the Maker Faire was a great exhibition and it helped students break down barriers between different areas of interest. They were all able to combine their passion just like the engineering and arts students who were able to put their ideas into a more powerful product.
Yamatai, <3 Acapella, Illuminations, Wushu and Absolute Zero were a few of the many project teams and performance groups on the Cornell University campus who presented their entrepreneurial ideas and products.
The Cornell Sun reported, influential entrepreneurs in the Ithaca community participated in the speaker series held at the Goldwin Smith Hall. Each speaker shared personal projects and the importance of the "making" culture to help solve the world's problems and make it a better place.
One of the speakers was Prof. David Schneider, a system engineer. He shared about the systems design competition, the Cornell Cup. He emphasized that true makers must think of what they need to meet the need of and what they want to solve rather than thinking about the final product.
Another speaker was Ken Rother, a member of the Cornell eLab teaching team who spoke about his buildable clock kit idea. He shared his journey from concept to implementation to an actual product available in the market. He emphasized how entrepreneurs must be conscious of the consumer and the problem the product aims to solve.
