Queen’s students have a bright and welcoming new space on campus to innovate, collaborate and bring their ideas to life.

SparQ Studios, previously located in the Integrated Learning Centre and known as SparQ Labs, officially opened its doors in Carruthers Hall in December. As Queen’s Innovation Connector’s makerspace and design studio, SparQ Studios gives students from all disciplines access to the space and many of the tools they need to develop their projects and prototypes.

Francis Campbell (Artsci’17), director of SparQ Studios, says more space is the greatest benefit of the new location, which occupies the former Gordon Vogt Studio Theatre. The School of Drama and Music no longer required the theatre with the opening of the Isabel Bader Centre for the Performing Arts.

“We’ve kept the core of the makerspace, which is what SparQ Labs really started out as,” he says. “But now we have the capacity to nurture a community that is interested in innovation and entrepreneurship.”

The main area of SparQ Studios houses a wide array of tools and equipment such as 3D printers, CNC milling machines and laser cutters as well as a co-working space with tables and chairs where students can gather and work together on their projects.

SparQ Studios is equipping a room where students can work on software development. There’s also a conference room where project teams can hold more formal meetings and a lounge that can accommodate guest speakers and other public events.

The makerspace and design studio has been open for just a couple of months, but already students and campus groups are exploring the possibilities of the space. Innovate Queen’s has held meetings there and computer science students have hosted coding nights as well. SparQ Studios has expanded its program offerings to include more workshops and pitch competitions.

“We want to bring in all of these groups and people and foster a really creative atmosphere,” Mr. Campbell says. “Now that we are located right in the middle of campus, students can happen upon the space and get exposed to the ideas of entrepreneurship and innovation.”

SparQ began in 2014 when several Queen’s students pitched the idea to QIC, who agreed to partner with the students and create the first makerspace on a Canadian university campus. QIC has supported the purchase of equipment thanks to the funding it has received from the Government of Ontario’s Campus-Linked Accelerator program.

Growing entrepreneurship on-campus and in the community is a key pillar of Queen’s strategic mandate. QIC builds on existing strengths to give students access to the resources, networks and mentors they need to transform their ideas into products and services.  QIC’s core strength is its interdisciplinary nature, providing students from across the university with the opportunity to work in diverse teams to address important problems and identify the solutions that will yield benefits not only for the region, but nationally and globally too.