Michael Caston working with students in DU’s Innovation Labs
Q&A with Michael Caston, associate professor and executive director of DU’s Innovation Labs
Michael Caston has been with the University of Denver for nearly five years. He joined DU in 2016 as program manager of the Innovation Labs, an interdisciplinary makerspace and incubator space that was the first of its kind at DU. He previously spent five years at Metropolitan State University of Denver as a professor of industrial design. Today he teaches at DU as an associate professor of innovation, product design and development at the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science.
We sat down with Caston to talk about the Innovation Labs and his own experience as an entrepreneur.
Q: How did DU’s Innovation Labs come about?
A: I was a tenured professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver in the industrial design department, specifically in product design—the only program of its kind in the state of Colorado. Someone in product design spends a lot of time in makerspaces, doing hands-on things, such as prototyping. I found myself at the University of Denver while I was working on a project in shoe design that took me to the Ritchie Center’s Human Dynamics Lab.
While there, Dr. Bradley Davidson mentioned to me, “We’re going to have a new engineering building and the dean is looking to have a makerspace in there. Do you know much about making?” And I said, “Sure, I essentially have a degree in making. If you need somebody with a vision, I can help with that.” So, I took a leave of absence from Metropolitan State University of Denver, came out to DU, envisioned, developed and launched the Innovation Labs—a series of makerspaces and coworking spaces at DU. When I was getting ready to go back to Metropolitan State University of Denver, the dean of the Ritchie School of Engineering and Computer Science asked me to stay on as faculty, so here I stayed.
I designed the Innovation Labs through a bottom-up approach. I asked the students, “What do you want? What are your needs? What can we build together that would be useful to you?” Once it was built out, I set it up to be a student-run organization. Students run the day-to-day operations in all departments. It’s set up like a startup, in many ways. We have a human resources department, marketing, events, maintenance, accounting … the students determine where the Innovation Labs should go, and I think that is what makes it successful.
Michael Caston
Q: What would you like the DU community to get out of the Innovation Labs?
A: The Innovation Labs are open to all DU students, faculty, staff and alumni, free of charge. I think of the Labs as an “experimental playground.” It’s a place where you can come and test new ideas, or meet people from different backgrounds, mindsets, ideologies, etc. You can trade ideas and test them out quickly and all of this can be done without fear of failure. You might fail, but you’re going to learn something from it. I always say, “Fail early, fail fast, fail forward.” You can do that in the Innovation Labs. It’s a place to exchange and test ideas.
We have people from all over campus coming here, and you really see that synergy between students. It could take the form of a startup with a student of psychology, a student of business and a student of engineering all coming together to solve a real-world problem. They can brainstorm ideas on one of our white boards, develop solutions for something that can be scaled into a brand-new business. They can use the labs for a school project. Or maybe they got a flat tire and need somewhere to fix up their bicycle’s inner tube, or they need to patch up a hole in their pants. Anything and everything related to innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity and problem-solving is welcome.
The Innovation Labs are open to everyone at DU for both curricular and non-curricular use. If you’re a student, it’s even a great place to hang out and eat your lunch! But I’d like to emphasize that the resources here really are for everyone. This is a space for everyone at DU—faculty, staff, students and alumni. We love to see the collaboration that comes from conversations between parties that otherwise wouldn’t have had the chance to meet. But the Labs allow everyone to meet on equal terms, and to do something that is hopefully fun, unique and impactful.
Q: What other functions do the Innovation Labs serve?
A: We host over 100 events every year. Whether that be a senator coming in to speak with students, or a STEM-based workshop for high school and middle school girls, or a large event like Global Game Jam where they develop video games to solve real-world problems. So, the labs are a meeting place, an event space and a makerspace.
Q: What makes you an entrepreneur?
A: There are several dimensions to what makes an entrepreneur in literature. It could be competitiveness, aggressiveness, risk-taking, proactiveness—those are some of the core elements of an entrepreneur. Some of it is inherent, and some of it you have to develop. For me, I’ve been an entrepreneur since I was 12. That was when I launched my first company, and I had a team working under me. I’ve launched several others since then. As an entrepreneur, I don’t think there’s a given formula, or flavor or textbook you can follow. It’s a lot about just getting in there, getting out of your comfort zone, learning how to pivot, how to be resourceful, and so on.
I’ve been an entrepreneur for a long time. For me, the different flavors of my entrepreneurship come from the areas I have degrees in—psychology, business, art and engineering. I like to say that I speak a variety of “languages.” When I designed the Innovation Labs, all those “languages” intertwined and came together. I think that also plays a role in what makes the Labs a success.