Next Top Makers Sponsored Event: The Business of Design

On January 22, 2013 EDC sponsored New York’s Next Top Makers: The Business of Design event. If you missed out on the fun (or attended, and just got distracted by all of the awesome 3D printers) here’s a few links to give you a recap of what went down.

  • Storytelling experts from IDEO spoke on why good design doesn’t always speak for itself. Check out their presentation.
  • 3DEA pop-up building journalist, Greg Spielberg, spoke about the role of a designer in a world of 3D printers.
  • And last, but not least, the NYCEDC spoke about the challenge at large and led a great Q&A session. Make sure to check out the presentation and Q&A transcript!


New York’s Next Top Makers Challenge on the Road

Want to learn more about New York’s Next Top Makers Challenge? We will have representatives at the following events:



New York’s Prototyping Ecosystem

In January 2011, NYCEDC’s Center for Economic Transformation launched a study of the City’s Rapid Prototyping and Fabrication ecosystem (RPF), taking inventory of the assets, from knowledge-sharing communities to equipment and specialized workspace, that allow our City’s technologists and designers to create new physical products. Read more about what they found and check out their map of NYC’s RPF resources MapTrifold.pdf.



Inspiration and Know-How

Need to get your creative juices flowing? Check out the sites below for inspiration!


Still feeling uninspired? Check out these articles about the new society of Makers.



Product Category Definitions

New York’s Next Top Makers Challenge is open to a wide range of new products. When you enter your submission, you will need to categorize your product. The category definitions are:

  • Consumer products. This includes products designed for personal use (home, work, leisure, health, sports, electronics, etc.)
  • Equipment. This includes equipment designed for public, commercial, industrial, medical, and scientific use (operations, production, construction, etc.)
  • Furniture and lighting. This includes furniture and lighting products in any context (private, public, commercial, or industrial use)
  • Soft goods. This includes products made from soft materials for personal, recreational, outdoor, or work use.
  • Packaging. This includes products that relate to the packaging of goods.
  • Interaction. This includes interactive multimedia and user interface products with physical components for mobile devices and experimental installations.
  • Transportation. This includes vehicles or modes of transportation used to get people or objects from one place to another.
  • DIY (kits). This includes any consumer-assembled product that provides tools or componentry for consumers to produce a final object by themselves.
  • Other. This includes all other eligible products that do not fall into one of the categories listed above. Please note that some products are not eligible. For more information about product eligibility please see the Official Rules.


More Questions?

If you have questions about New York’s Next Top Makers Challenge, email Support@ChallengePost.com