There's never been a better time
in the history of the world to be an entrepreneur.
The Internet allows you to
reach millions of customers and to grow as large as
the infrastructure you can build can handle.
Today a student with a good idea
and an Amazon account
can have a company can be an entrepreneur
and can change the way products are manufactured
can change the way problems are solved.
Which is leading to all sorts
of opportunities and I think Goja, FIU
are at the heart
of those potential opportunities
when you put Amazon into that mix.
When I met Walter
I was immediately interested in the way in
which we might be able to
combine forces and think about
how a new e-commerce environment,
this new technology ,
and the existing 3D printing lab
could all come together.
Not only for design education
but for education in general.
Goja grew because we do many things
from product design to internet placement.
Professionals that understand
how the internet works, how to optimize for
Amazon and Google search,
have a significant advantage over those that don't,
regardless of the profession.
University students need to learn these skills.
I was introduced to John
with the purpose of finding a 3D printing space
where we could develop products faster.
John is a very innovative educator,
very creative,
and forward-thinking as to where education should go.
When I explained to him how Goja develops products,
why Goja grew,
and what the internet means for commerce and retail.
And John realized that his students should
learn this skill.
Two years ago I was on a panel in Washington DC,
and one of the people on the panel with me
was the head of HP global.
He was starting this project
to model the future of higher education in America,
it was called building the campus of tomorrow.
And we were invited to participate
in this research project
and so that's when we approached
the Knight Foundation for funding
to work with MakerBot to create
the largest 3D printing lab in the United States
in an Arts and Design environment.
This's a first time I've experienced a 3D printing facility
where the students
were able to touch and feel and create
in a flexible innovative way without restrictions.
We offered every student a 3D printer,
and as much filament as they want for free,
to use whenever they want,
for any project that they're inventing.
One of the great surprises that I got
from working with these students
was, how good they actually are at designing products.
By reading reviews on Amazon,
by listening to what the Amazon community
is telling them online,
were right away able to make a better product.
And that speed of improving products
is the future of e-commerce.
Technology should be something
that students approach
they approach the equipment they learn how to use it,
and they learn how to hack it.
They understand failure as part of the process
and not think about this as just a way to make a product
but it's a way to create a new form of Education.
In the past you have to develop thousands of products
in order to be able to recover the cost of development.
But with a 3D printing facility and an Amazon account,
you don't need investors,
you don't need manufacturers,
you don't need anything else than a good idea,
a little bit initiative to design your product
and you're in business.
This was really faculty members and students
coming together
to form something new,
and to form an educational model
that really adapted to the real world.
It wasn't that we were creating things,
it was that we were creating an ecosystem of learning,
that would be adaptable to be the future
of higher education in America.
Education has to evolve
to meet the needs of the future careers
not the past careers.
And when you bring 55,000 students
from all over the world together
and you give it the amount of resources
that a university like FIU has,
it's a birthplace for great ideas and innovative ideas,
and that's what I think represents
the biggest asset that FIU has right now.
The young, diverse, really interesting population,
just trying to figure out
what education will look like in the future
versus what it has to be or what it has been
in the last 100 years.