TechShop Adds Another Tool To Missouri’s Innovation Excellence

• August 19, 2016

Missouri has a growing reputation as a state committed to innovation. From the Missouri Innovation Center in Columbia, to the Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis, Missouri talent is leading the way in innovation in areas such as advanced manufacturing, agtech and health services.

Now TechShop, a membership-based do-it-yourself workshop that provides members with the use of tools and equipment, along with classes and an innovative atmosphere, is opening in Missouri’s Cortex Innovation Community.

TechShop was founded in 2006 in California’s Silicon Valley as a place for the public to come and have access to industrial strength machinery without having to pay a fortune to buy it.

Missouri entrepreneur and inventor Jim McKelvey used TechShop to create the prototype for Square, a mobile-based payment system, which has now grown into one of the most successful mobile-based payment companies in the world. Square recently opened its first St. Louis office, also choosing to take up residence in the Cortex Innovation Community.

With its strategic location, globally connected infrastructure, economic diversity, competitive business and labor costs, highly-skilled and hard working talent, reliable and inexpensive energy and a statewide commitment to attracting companies and investment, Missouri is a place where companies come to grow and thrive.