The White House has announced that this year’s ‘Week of Making’ will be June 12-18.
After last year’s inaugural White House Maker Faire proved to be a roaring success, the Obama Administration has announced that they will once again be celebrating a ‘Week of Making’ this summer, from June 12th through the 18th. The week will kick off with the National Maker Faire, which will be held at the University of the District of Columbia and feature a number of Makers from across the country.
Last year, on June 18th, President Obama issued a call to action that “every company, every college, every community, every citizen joins us as we lift up Makers and builders and doers across the country.” During the one-day event, the President proclaimed that “today’s D.I.Y is tomorrow’s Made in America” as he welcomed people of all ages who were funelling their ingenuity into amazing projects, developing creative solutions to important problems and bringing their innovations to market. Among those in attendance were Atmel friends and teenage whiz kids Super Awesome Sylvia and Quin Etnyre. Impressively, Etnyre would go on to launch a successfully-funded Kickstarter campaign a few months later, which further validates the tremendous possibilities of going from Makerspace to Market Place.
Meanwhile, the President also met a 17-foot-tall, 2,200-pound robotic giraffe named Russell. He spoke to a once-homeless entrepreneur who was able to acquire the necessary skills in design and prototyping at a local digital fabrication studio and Makerspace to launch his own business. He even sat down on a solar-powered bench that allows people to charge their phones while stopping for a quick rest. Heck, will.i.am and Bill Nye the Science Guy made an appearance as well!
This year, participants will be joined from various federal agencies including the Department of Education, National Science Foundation, U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Small Business Administration, Institute of Museum and Library Services, National Institute of Standards and Technology, NASA, Corporation for National and Community Service, Department of Homeland Security and the Smithsonian.
“The Maker Movement is the next great revolution of industry and embodies the American Spirit,” adds Sander Arts, VP of Marketing at Atmel.
Hoping to once again to be well-represented in the nation’s capital is Atmel, whose 8 and 32-bit microcontrollers can be found right at the heart of the burgeoning Maker Movement powering just about everything including 3D printers, robots, and of course, Arduino boards that enable everyone to exercise their imagination and create projects.
“By working together, we can provide every child and adult in America with the tools, technologies and resources they need to be part of the creative process and invent, create, and make a better, stronger, and more innovative future,” Dale Dougherty writes.
While details are still being finalized, you can head over to the National Maker Faire’s official site to stay up-to-date and follow along with our pals at MAKE.
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