UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Invent Penn State's all-new rapid prototyping and fabrication space, OriginLabs, had its official opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony on Wednesday, March 22.
Penn State Senior Vice President for Research Lora Weiss enabled a robotic arm to cut the ribbon at the ceremony, marking the official opening of the space to the public.
“OriginLabs will be positioned as a connector for various academic units by supplementing existing assets and resources on campus, and to become a cross disciplinary and collaborative hub,” Weiss said during the ceremony. “The work at OriginLabs will help accelerate the pace at which technologies move from research ideas and discovery to implementation by providing technical skills and capabilities not widely accessible elsewhere.”
OriginLabs, located on the first and mezzanine floors of the Eric J. Barron Innovation Hub in downtown State College, is a 7,000-square foot space designed to allow users to design, prototype, and test potential solutions for their startups or ideas.
Community members, students, faculty, and staff members are all encouraged to visit OriginLabs and sign up for any number of free services, including equipment training, skill building workshops, and one-on-one consultations.
The well-appointed facilities give users access to a breadth of materials and methodologies for production, with dedicated lab spaces including woodworking, metalworking, surfacing, welding, digital fabrication, and additive manufacturing.
Learn more about OriginLabs and how the rapid prototyping and fabrication space can be a resource for you.
About Invent Penn State
Invent Penn State is a commonwealth-wide initiative to spur economic development, job creation and student career success. Invent Penn State blends entrepreneurship-focused academic programs, business startup training and incubation, funding for commercialization, and university-community-industry collaborations to facilitate the challenging process of turning research discoveries into valuable products and services that can benefit Pennsylvanians and humankind.
This project was financed in part by a grant from the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Department of Community & Economic Development.