The upcoming event��was announced today.��

The Louisville Maker Faire��will be a free, family-friendly event that includes spectacle acts,��exhibitions, competitions, hands-on��workshops, speakers, musical performances and more.

“We look forward to bringing��the community together on our campus to create, discover and be inspired,” said President Neeli Bendapudi. “This event will show the incredible power��of partnership between our university and local industry.”

“Hosting our city’s first full-feature��Maker Faire is an example of how businesses and organizations are working��together to drive��innovation, and a reflection��of the��budding��tech sector��and thriving art scene that have gained momentum in Louisville and across��the region,” said Larry Portaro, president of FirstBuild.

Rob Keynton, UofL’s interim executive vice president for research and innovation, said the university is a “hotbed for innovation,” adding that his office is dedicated to working with community partners to do even more.��

“This September, thousands of makers, artists and entrepreneurs from across the U.S. will see, first hand, what our students and faculty can do when they attend Maker Faire on our campus,” he said.

GE Appliances, one��of the event’s flagship sponsors, backs FirstBuild and is a Louisville-based��maker that has been inventing and��manufacturing home appliances for more than��100 years.��

“This Maker Faire will be��the largest gathering of inventors, creators and makers that this city has ever��seen,” said Kevin Nolan, president and��chief executive officer of GE��Appliances. “Hosting this event in the hometown of GE Appliances showcases the brain��power and creativity of our��community.”

Similar Faires have been��held in cities across the globe since 2006. Louisville has hosted a��smaller-scale, single-day mini maker faire for the past��six years.

“From my first day as the��city’s mayor, innovation and lifelong learning have been among my��core pillars to help our community thrive and grow,” said��Louisville Mayor Greg��Fischer. “Maker Faire will help us continue to advance that vision.”

Organizers are seeking makers,��sponsors and volunteers to contribute to the success of the event. Makers can��sign up to provide an exhibit,��presentation, performance, workshop or demo.��.��

See more .

Check out video from today’s press conference:��

The company has launched , a technology startup with headquarters just north of the Belknap campus.

“We love the partnership between UofL and Giddy,” said Mark Rondina, Giddy’s director of User Experience. “We feel that it really is mutually beneficial.”

The idea is to get students and other online makers to help companies create new products and refine existing ones. There are prizes for winning challenges, like designing a or a .

“We are able to work with talented designers with fresh perspectives and ideas and the students gain experience in a production environment,” Rondina said.��“They are able to apply what they have studied to real world projects and deliverables.”

Amber Kleitz, a senior studying communication art and design, is now a junior designer at Giddy. She said these experiences allow students to collaborate with people outside their chosen discipline, such as designers with engineering and business majors.��

“As soon as I started working with engineers and developers, I started seeing what the process behind a successful product really looked like,” she said.

Before Giddy, Kleitz also and interned at , GE Appliances’ makerspace and microfactory on UofL’s campus. The center opened in 2014, and has since been as “a model for adapting to a changing competitive environment that disadvantages large firms.”

Giddy is an extension of FirstBuild’s open-innovation model. The idea is to use a community of citizen hackers and makers to generate new products more quickly — and with built-in consumer demand.��

“Giddy is a totally unique enterprise for GE Appliances,” said Rick Hasselbeck, GE Appliances’ chief commercial officer. “The success��and growth of the FirstBuild innovation model has given us a great platform from which��to launch Giddy.”

Giddy’s headquarters are at 227 E. Lee St., just up the street from FirstBuild. That has become a hub for industry wanting to work with UofL.��

In November, Louisville-based Kindred Healthcare across the street from Giddy. And Advanced Energy Materials opened a .

Dr. Rob Keynton, interim executive vice president for research and innovation, said working with industry provides “real-world experiential learning opportunities for our students as well as plant the seed for research collaborations between our faculty and industry.”

“We welcome Giddy to UofL and look forward to establishing a strong relationship with them,” he said.