New technology-focused labs have opened at the former University Mall, adding to an ever-growing portfolio of innovative offerings in the Uptown district.
“What we’re doing is taking small bites and trying to begin to train the community to understand how the technology works and that they’re a part of it,” said Mark Sharpe, Tampa Innovation Partnership’s executive director. “With meta technology ... if you understand how it works and can be part of it, it can help as you build a business and as you compete with jobs. These labs are the building blocks.”
LT3 Labs opened this month, with AMRoC Fab Lab slated to reopen this month. They join Vu Studios, which is rapidly expanding across the country, and the University of South Florida College of Engineering in an effort to make the now-renamed RITHIM a hub for high tech.
LT3 Labs
LT3 Labs
Chris Morancie has a value proposition for his space that opened June 10: infrastructure for workforce development and upscaling education.
“I went to school here, and I lived in the area; it’s a very personal thing,” the University of South Florida grad said. “To be able to provide equitable access to these types of areas.”
The 5,000-square-foot space will serve as a hub for workforce development, with plans to host job fairs and information sessions, help nonprofits with grant writing and serve as a coworking space with high-powered computers that can tackle machine learning and artificial intelligence capabilities.
“The primary function is going to be tech-focused, but when we create the space, and as we talked to the community, we realized it’s not the only way someone could have success,” Morancie said. “We built it in such a way to support and upscale other industries; it’s about providing opportunities for other neighbors.”
This is the first of what Morancie hopes to be many locations under the LT3 umbrella. LT3, which stands for “learning tomorrow’s technologies today,” also has an LT3 Academy.
“It’s a really good start, and now there are still some good plans to carve out the ecosystem,” he said. “But we’re getting there.”
AMRoC Fab Lab
AMRoc Fab Lab
The center — a shortening of Advanced Manufacturing & Robotics Center — is run by the Foundation for Community Driven Innovation. It has been in the mall for the last three years and moved across the walkway due to mall reconstruction. The new space will open June 18 and spans 8,000 square feet.
While the previous space was one large open space, the new center has separate labs for its multiple offerings. There’s the sewing, textiles and art lab, the 3D printing lab and a separate storage facility to ensure safety. There’s also meeting and classroom space and an entrepreneur center.
“This brings programming that isn’t available in the community to those who otherwise wouldn’t have it,” said Terri Willingham, executive director for the Foundation for Community Driven Innovation. “In Uptown, it’s a way to help build capacity and develop workforce and small business resiliency. It’s democratizing access; it’s taking down barriers to training and resources.”
The center offers programming from “K to Gray,” or kindergarten through senior citizen level. It often works with LT3 Group, Willingham said, either in taking a young child from their program or passing off a more advanced one.
“As we grow the community and have the pipeline efforts, it brings it all together,” Willingham said. “It brings a resource hub for everyone in the community — for family and youth to tighten the community and strengthen it. It’s a real opportunity zone, not just for developers but the residents.”
