Mini Maker Faire embodies spirit of innovation at Tonsley

Adelaide’s innovation hub – Tonsley – will today host thousands of inventors, creators, entrepreneurs, and makers at the 2015 Adelaide Mini Maker Faire.

More than 130 such events are held around the world every year, and are billed as a ‘show and tell’ for makers where they can demonstrate their creations alongside other inventors.

Manufacturing and Innovation Minister Kyam Maher says Tonsley – which is hosting the Mini Maker Faire for the first time – is a natural fit for the event, as both are underpinned by a spirit of innovation.

“The main assembly building area will play host to inventors and designers, artists, and traditional craftspeople who will showcase skills as diverse as animatronics and special effects to robotics and 3D printing,” he says.

“Makers are people who get hands-on with designing and making prototypes of everything from electric cars, software coding, and drones to woodworking, metal working and spinning.

“They are also innovators and entrepreneurs who design and make new products and services and embody the Tonsley ethos.

The 2015 Adelaide Mini Maker Faire will celebrate technology, science, engineering, arts, craft, food, and sustainability, as well as promoting Tonsley as a hub of innovation, education, and entrepreneurship.

The Flinders at Tonsley Lecture Theatre 1 will host talks from a range of speakers including Mad Max: Fury Road prop-maker Matt Boug and science experts Rob Morrison and Deane Hutton from The Curiosity Show.

Adelaide’s flourishing Voxiebox, a display tech company featuring 3D holographic displays, will also be conducting demonstrations.

Minister Maher says since it opened three years ago in the former Mitsubishi car assembly plant, the 61-hectare Tonsley site has grown to host more than 30 companies and about 800 jobs, with further growth planned.

“The State Government is proud to support the Mini Maker Faire at Tonsley,” he says.

“It’s a great opportunity for people to visit Tonsley and see firsthand a community where industry, educational institutions, research and development companies, start-ups, renewable energy and medical technology companies coexist and collaborate on projects which will help drive South Australia’s future prosperity.”

The event opens at 10.00am and continues until 5.00pm. Entry is by gold coin. Special trains will run hourly from the city to the Clovelly Park railway station.

For more information, visit: www.makerfaireadelaide.com