Mandlemaru (Director: Won Yong-gwan, School of Electronics and Computer Engineering) announced its full-fledged start by holding an opening ceremony and exhibition of its accomplishments on March 28. Mandlemaru, the construction of which was completed earlier in March, was established to encourage creative manufacturing and foster the survivability of manufacturers.
As the only “makerspace” in the Honam area, Mandlemaru was initiated by the ‘2018 Professional Maker Space Building and Management Project’ of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups and will carry out a 5-year project. In the first operation year, Mandlemaru will receive 2.6 billion KRW to be equipped with facilities and infrastructure for its services and from the second year to the last year, it will receive 0.8 billion KRW for operational costs. CNU set up four core agendas for Mandlemaru in 2018, ‘Expanding maker culture’, ‘Activating maker communities’, ‘Cultivating professional makers’, and ‘Building market-oriented start-up platforms’ and has operated multiple programs accordingly.
Under the motto of ‘Make, Learn, and Share’, Mandlemaru provides opportunities to those who have not yet found chances to realize their creative ideas. It will support potential entrepreneurs among CNU students and local residents with various programs to learn, make, and share.
In the opening ceremony and exhibition, which was started by Director Won who introduced Mandlemaru and its vision, directors and presidents of regional institutions of related fields attended the ceremony, such as President Jeong, major faculty post members, the Director of the Gwangju and Jeonnam Regional Office of the Ministry of SMEs and Startups, and the Director of Technopark. They also participated in the VIP Talk. Local residents and students who participated in programs of Mandlemaru also attended the ceremony to receive certificates of program completion and shared their experiences with other attendees. Exhibitions and events, such as an exhibition of excellent products and best practices of Mandlemaru programs, a case study presentation of maker education, and experience programs like Fun-making gave meaningful opportunities to the visitors of the ceremony.
This year, Mandlemaru has held 30 maker culture events, 9 maker educational programs, supported the production of 60 prototype products, and applied for 174 intellectual property rights. In addition, Mandlemaru has cooperated with local governments to hold 12 programs to expand the maker culture in the regional communities, such as Hello Maker Gwangju, Maker Flea Market, and Maker Fair. The results of these efforts have been fruitful in discovering and cultivating manufacturers; a total of 11 people have succeeded in the founding of their manufacturing businesses.
President Jeong said, "We expect Mandlemaru to be the place of precious opportunities to realize our creativity. We also hope all of you will bear witness to the trail-blazing footsteps of Mandlemaru, which is leading us into the 4th industrial revolution.
