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"  Shared Space &amp;quot;What&amp;#039;s specific about the innovation economy is Brooklyn is the makeup of people that are there,&amp;quot; said Mitch Joachim, cofounder of Terreform ONE, a nonprofit design group that promotes smart design in cities. The borough has become an area for collaboration and cooperation between innovative companies, an incubator of sorts where ideas flow freely. Joachim compared it to working with friends in a garage, but with one stipulation: &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s not the Silicon Valley version of the garage. This is a very open, shared, vertical, and horizontal series of garages and clusters, where innovation happens through an easy conversation.&amp;quot; City Investment The panelists stressed the need for more involvement from the government at local, state, and national levels. &amp;quot;We need to get the focus of the government to understand that innovation is a reliable sector of the economy,&amp;quot; said Sayar Lonial of New York University&amp;#039;s Polytechnic Graduate School. &amp;quot;What we do need is an investment from the city, state, or federal government to give to areas that do research, that come up with ideas. This is the ecosystem we need to live in.&amp;quot; Government needs to be open to crazy ideas, too. Ryan Hollowell of Lumi Solair, which is developing solar streetlights and off-the-grid power solutions, said it will be hard to get governments to see past the risks involved and look more toward the benefits. &amp;quot;It&amp;#039;s a challenge for the governments to be open to new technologies and innovative technologies,&amp;quot; he said. &amp;quot;They&amp;#039;re averse to risk and to new products. [Departments of Transportation] around the state are not open to off-the-grid streetlights. It&amp;#039;s really having them be open to these opportunities.&amp;quot; The Creative Class While rent in the Big Apple is already sky-high and only getting worse. But Joachim says that for the innovation economy to work, this new creative class needs to be embraced. &amp;quot;Give them cheap rent, give them spaces that are on the edge. Make sure it&amp;#039;s something they can be a part of.&amp;quot; Improving Efficiency Part of this innovation movement is to buck established trends that may be outdated and inefficient. Roger Krulak, project leader at FC + Skanska Modular, is working on building the world&amp;#039;s tallest modular structure as part of the Atlantic Yards development. This project involves coming up with novel ways to approach construction, such as fabricating the 930 modules that will make up building\u2014called Atlantic Yards B2 Modular\u2014off-site in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, then transporting them to the build site. The company estimates that this method will reduce the waste produced by 70 to 80 percent. &amp;quot;Innovation really requires sitting down and thinking about things,&amp;quot; Krulak said. &amp;quot;Changing what has been some way for 200 years is tough. We&amp;#039;re bringing manufacturing back to Brooklyn.&amp;quot; Empowering the Next Generation A key aspect of growing Brooklyn&amp;#039;s innovation economy is getting younger people excited about the STEM fields (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) and unlocking that creativity. &amp;quot;We have to empower the next generation with the tools to make a difference,&amp;quot; said Bre Pettis, cofounder and CEO of MakerBot Industries (http://www.makerbot.com/). MakerBot specializes in 3D printing, and Pettis hopes the technology will empower kids to have as many ways to explore and make things in as many ways as possible to make sure the next generation has the tools to succeed in STEM fields. &amp;quot;We have an entire new field out there that people need to be trained for,&amp;quot; Lonial said. &amp;quot;There are 60,000 students in Brooklyn. We have to do a little bit of a better job to prepare.&amp;quot; Everyone Can Think Big Joachim stressed that innovators need to better communicate what is possible and that they&amp;#039;re interested in them joining what this innovation economy can be. &amp;quot;The innovation economy is about explaining to others that you can think big.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/a9660/how-brooklyn-became-a-diy-hotspot-16146802/>