Birmingham, Alabama-based Hardware Park receives $250,000 Innovate Alabama grant, announces documentary
Hardware Park, Birmingham’s hub for physical product development, has been awarded a $250,000 grant by Innovate Alabama, fueling Hardware Park’s ongoing commitment to promote medical device innovation in Birmingham. The grant arrives as the nonprofit unveils a documentary chronicling its inaugural MedTech Design Experience, which brought together eight Birmingham metro high school students for a two-week exploration of medical device design and prototyping. “The Innovate Alabama grant and our documentary release underscore our strategy to intertwine education, innovation, and community engagement,” said Hardware Park Executive Director Mark Conner. Innovate Alabama, led by CEO Cynthia Crutchfield and 11 board members appointed by Gov. Kay Ivey, is Alabama’s first statewide public-private partnership focused on entrepreneurship, technology, and innovation. The partnership recently launched Innovate Alabama Network, a comprehensive resource to connect communities, nonprofits, and higher education institutions across Alabama fostering innovation in their local footprint. Fifty-one designees in 17 Alabama counties make up the group, which received $9.3 million in supporting funds from Innovate Alabama. Alabama Power is among the supporters of Innovate Alabama. “The Innovate Alabama Network is a major step forward to growing the entrepreneurial and innovation environment in Alabama,” Crutchfield said. “By providing funding and resources to our local communities, nonprofits, and higher education institutions, we are developing a statewide network for innovation programming and catalyzing entrepreneurship in all of our communities, both rural and urban.” Located in downtown Birmingham, Hardware Park covers two city blocks and houses a variety of businesses in manufacturing, engineering, and product design. The grant will significantly amplify Hardware Park’s ability to provide educational programming for budding medical device engineers in high school and college, according to Conner. The documentary, crafted by Birmingham locals Gabriel Talley and Robert Hill of Uphill Growth, vividly (and comically) captures the MedTech Design Experience journey, according to a Hardware Park news release. Slated for release on Nov. 14 at TechBirmingham’s Tech Tuesday event, the documentary portrays the journey of eight young aspiring engineers: Jeremy Harper (Ramsay High School), Enoch Booher (Vestavia Hills High School), Brooks Denson (Homewood High School), Caren Smith (Woodlawn High School), Joseph Drake (Carver High School), Matthew Eligwe (Hoover High School), Molly Elmore (Vestavia High) and Isaiah Williams-Scott (Restoration Academy). Hardware Park, Conner said, invites the community, potential entrepreneurs, and the media to delve deeper into the nonprofit’s initiatives, join the narrative, and support the journey towards a thriving medical device ecosystem in Birmingham. “Hardware Park’s dedication to hands-on engineering and design education is not only empowering our youth but also positioning our city at the forefront of medical technology advancements,” Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin said. “I am excited about the positive impact Hardware Park is bringing to our community.” Republished with the permission of The Alabama NewsCenter.
