Friday, December 29, 2017
Reflections On 2017: Krisztina 'Z' Holly, MAKE IT IN LA
During the holiday season, our tradition over the last few years has been to post reflections on the past year and some predictions from Southern California's "movers and shakers" in the technology industry. This morning's contribution is from Krisztina 'Z' Holly host of the The Art of Manufacturing podcast and founder of MAKE IT IN LA (www.makeitinla.org), which supports connecting local manufacturers and high tech companies.
What was the big news for your company this year?
We blew an important milestone out of the water this year! Eighteen months ago, when MAKE IT IN LA's launch from Mayor's Garcetti's office was featured in a White House press release, we announced an audacious goal of reaching 1,000 entrepreneurs with our programming by the end of this year. Well, we hit 2,500 this fall!
I'm also pleased that we took a risk with Maker Walk LA: a dozen manufacturers—from Hyperloop One to a distillery and a luxury leather factory—opened their doors for a behind-the-scenes walking tour around the Arts District. (Check out the entertaining video here.">http://makeitinla.org/makerwalkvideo">here.) We also started offering Factory Tour Workshops to entrepreneurs, with nearly 100 applying for the pilots. And I'm especially proud to have received our 501(c)(3) charitable designation from the I.R.S. in August. We received a $40,000 grant and have raised sponsorship to expand our efforts to connect manufacturers and emerging brands with each other and the resources they need to scale in LA in the coming year.
What was the biggest personal lesson you learned from 2017?
My biggest lesson is twofold: first, I've been blown away by the enthusiasm from emerging brands and manufacturing entrepreneurs who love having a forum to connect with each other and local resources. There just hasn't been anything like this across the manufacturing industry like there is in tech or Hollywood.
On the flip side, I've discovered that the public doesn't fully appreciate the opportunity— yet! Most people think manufacturing is dead, but if they saw behind the scenes how fashion and food is made, the incredible technology behind the space industry, or the exciting advancements in logistics and automation, they'd recognize the potential.
Most Angelenos don't realize Los Angeles is the largest manufacturing center in the country. (We have four manufacturing jobs for every job we have in film and television!) But once people hear stories from the entrepreneurs and innovators, they get inspired. It's the emails from fans and the enthusiasm from founders that keeps driving me to be an evangelist—to contribute my time to building the community through MAKE IT IN LA and telling the stories through my podcast.
What are you looking forward to most in 2018?
We'll be launching two new programs early in the new year that will help emerging brands and manufacturing founders connect with the resources they need to scale in LA; stay tuned for some announcements early in 2018. (If you are interested in partnering or sponsoring, let us know.)
I'm also excited to launch season three of The Art of Manufacturing podcast in January, for a behind-the-scenes look at amazing entrepreneurs who make stuff, and to take it on the road later in the year. Listeners can subscribe on iTunes or their favorite podcast player.
Are there any technology innovations, gadgets, devices, software, that particularly caught your eye in 2017?
There's an exciting convergence happening between the physical and digital worlds, which makes manufacturing a more important part of the tech conversation than ever.
Some of the notable things that caught my eye: /p>
- 2017 was the year SpaceX demonstrated their premise of reusability to bring down the cost of satellite launches and space travel, with multiple Falcon rockets and a reused capsule giving repeat performances.
- Local automotive micro-factory Divergent 3D raised a total of $90M to use digital fabrication and 3d printing to rethink car manufacturing in a future of autonomous vehicles.
- Local startup DAQRI started shipping their Smart Glasses this fall, finally making AR in the workplace seem ready for prime time.
- Snap Inc became a hardware company—Specs, drones, merchandise. Unfortunately, hundreds of thousands of Spectacles still sit unused in the warehouses.
- Autonomous truck startup Embark came out of stealth in February, and by the fall they have been regularly shipping refrigerators from Texas to a distribution center in Palm Springs.
- A humanoid robot named Sophia was granted citizenship in Saudi Arabia—as some noted, a full year before it plans to give women the right drive next summer.
- In automation news, Google's Deep Mind AI taught itself to walk last summer. (Yet, in another study, it still has difficulties understanding Homer Simpson's actions. D'OH!)
- An international team of researchers used the groundbreaking genetic innovation CRISPR-Cas9 to edit and fix a fatal genetic mutation in human embryos.
- Researchers at MIT turned the strongest material known, graphene, into a useful 3D material for the first time. The superlight, porous material has a density of just 5 percent and strength 10 times that of steel.
- The US Navy 3D printed their first component for use inside an aircraft - a discontinued part for a Beechcraft T-44 Pegasus. This could be the first step in rethinking supply chains, potentially replacing warehouses full of parts with digital files.
These news stories are just scratching the surface, but they all really jumped out at me to underscore all the excitement happening in manufacturing and hardware.
Finally, what is your prediction for what will have the biggest impact on the technology industry in 2018?
I'm most interested in how technology impacts the physical world rather than the other way around. There are tons of exciting trends, from robotics and materials to logistics and sustainability, so it's hard to pick one. But if we're talking 2018, I'll focus on the one that will impact the most of us: Amazon. They have really turned the screws on other retailers, which in turn impact brands and manufacturers through price pressure and convenience. Over the last few years or so consumers have radically changed our expectations around delivery, wanting nearly instant access to products as though we were turning on a faucet or flipping a light switch. As a leader in logistics and automation, Amazon is putting pressure on other companies to innovate quickly.
Other impacts are less direct but no less subtle: our cultural shift from traditional brick and mortar retail to home delivery and digital entertainment is causing us to rethink the need for shopping malls, transportation design, and movie theaters. Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods this year is just another very visible step in their expansion.
Although this might seem like a challenging time for to go up against Amazon, technologies like Instagram and direct-to-consumer models are disintermediating retail, enabling emerging brands to get noticed without the traditional gatekeepers. Shrewd founders have been experimenting with branding, pricing, and new online retail models, and some high growth consumer goods like SmartyPants Vitamins have been incredibly successful at leveraging Amazon in the early stages (listen to learn more). It's become compelling for entrepreneurs and influencers to create physical products, and tech companies that I've covered on my podcast, like Iconery (jewelry) and Lumi (packaging) and Plethora (machining) help creatives without prior experience turn their dreams into reality.
Because brand story, innovation, and time to market have become key in this rapidly changing environment, I predict that local manufacturing will play an ever-critical role in 2018 and beyond. And being a center of manufacturing, aerospace, design, transportation, food, fashion, logistics, and culture, Los Angeles can be poised to be at the center of it all.
MIT-trained engineer, tech entrepreneur and adventurer, Krisztina "Z" Holly is the host of The Art of Manufacturing podcast and Founder & Chief Instigator of MAKE IT IN LA, a non-profit launched out of LA Mayor Garcetti’s office. Z is known for curating and hosting the first ever TEDx (TEDxUSC) in 2009 and founding two innovation centers at MIT and USC. She has an instinct for finding and amplifying undiscovered talent and ideas, whether it’s helping dozens of faculty spin out new venture-backed startups, or curating nearly a hundred different speakers whose talks have garnered 14 million views online; ten have appeared on TED.com.
Early on, Z played key roles at tech startups, such as Stylus innovation (acquired by Artisoft), Direct Hit Technologies (acquired by Ask Jeeves), and Jeeves Solutions (acquired by Kanisa). She served as Vice Provost for Innovation at USC and has been advisor to nearly two dozen companies and organizations, including the River LA, World Economic Forum, and the Obama Administration.