Introducing PIE Shop
For the past several years, we’ve been circling a hypothesis that the Portland metro area should be a leader in the Internet of Things (IoT) space.
We’re beyond excited to take a step forward in testing that hypothesis.
Autodesk, Portland Incubator Experiment (PIE) and Uncorked Studios are collaborating on an advanced manufacturing and prototyping incubator to fuel the next generation of product companies here in Portland, OR.
The program, called the PIE Shop, will pair product experts at Autodesk with a diverse set of entrepreneurs to offer resources around design, business strategy, manufacturing and product development.
Why Portland Works
Our belief in this town as an ideal test bed stems partially from economist Enrico Moretti’s thinking on innovation clusters in The New Geography of Jobs and partially from our firsthand experiences working with startups, innovation teams, and large brands on bringing product concepts to life.
Moretti posits that a healthy innovation ecosystem has a number of components associated with it: higher education, access to capital and industry leaders, and public policy to support growth. In the Portland metro area, we have strength in apparel and outdoor, biosciences, design, food technology, and hardware/semiconductors. If you imagine the center of a giant Venn diagram overlapping these industries, IoT sits at the center of them.
Portland’s vision for IoT should be less about building $600 juicers and more about building products that solve real problems, and allow us to do more of what we enjoy doing and less of what we don’t.
Starting Simple
In our own experiences with startups and large brands, many companies lacked the insight to go from concept to prototype and onward to manufacturing. Even when our partners had the capacity to manufacture their own products, they often got hung up on concepts that either revolved around tech for tech’s sake, or were so conceptual that their pathway into someone’s living room was questionable from the start.
We believe that creating a manufacturing and prototyping ecosystem starts with identifying the components that Moretti discusses.
PIE Shop sits at the intersection of all of these.
PIE Shop is a manufacturing-focused incubator and community facility located in Portland’s Central Eastside with the goal of getting IoT products from concept to their first 1,000 units. Our goal is build the next generation of IoT companies here in Portland.
PIE Shop exists to connect new and old makers with the tools and expertise they need to imagine a product and successfully bring it to market. It will also empower the labor force with a series of vocational training programs and certification.
User-validation, quicker prototypes, and a deeper familiarity with the manufacturing process will create a better ecosystem for startups and acquiring companies. Autodesk is the perfect founding partner for this, and PIE is the perfect vehicle for delivering insight. But this is just the beginning. Our vision for the space is for one where brands and startups can come together to co-create, build, and share in each other’s success stories.
The space opens up to the first cohort of startups in May. If you’ve got a vision for how hardware can bring positive change to the world, please apply here and consider joining us.
