Tikkun Olam Makers opens New York innovation center
TOM facility will operate as a hub for open source assistive technology, aimed at product development and community engagement
Tikkun Olam Makers (TOM), an Israeli-American nonprofit that develops open source assistive technology solutions for people with disabilities, has opened a new innovation center in New York City.
TOMIC NYC is located at the Shefa School near Columbus Circle and serves as TOM’s second international innovation center, joining its existing facility in Tel Aviv, Israel.
The center will focus on late-stage product development of open source solutions for distribution across the US and internationally, while hosting year-round programming for TOM’s community in New York and the broader tri-state area. It will also serve as a destination for international innovators visiting the city.
TOM has developed more than 1,200 open source customizable solutions across 36 countries since it founding in 2014. The organization relies on a volunteer network of engineers, designers, students, healthcare professionals, and makers who work directly with individuals facing unmet needs.
“The goal of TOM is to help millions of people around the world, across political, national and religious lines, and our motto is affordable and accessible for anyone anywhere,” stated Gidi Grinstein, Founder and President of TOM. “Therefore, our strategy is to mobilize engineering and design talent, ask everyone to share their creations to the public domain, standardize the process of product development, deposit all creations online and then allow every makerspace around the world to manufacture our products through distributed manufacturing. In other words, we are crowdsourcing the talent and the manufacturing capabilities.
“In the bigger picture, TOM allows the abundance of talent, manufacturing capabilities and goodwill, which exist in our communities, to address the scarcity that people experience in every community and society.
“At the same time, TOM is a platform for massive transfer of knowledge from those who have to those who do not, both within societies and among nations. TOMIC NYC is not just about helping NYC but also upstate and rural New York State, and all other areas across the United States.”
Lisa Yoon, a clinician at the Weinberg Family Cerebral Palsy Center at Columbia University, added: “Working with TOM has allowed our patients to access custom adaptations they simply would not receive through traditional channels. These tools increase independence, participation, and quality of life in meaningful ways.”
The organization’s mission centers on reducing the cost of assistive devices by 80% to 99% through frugal innovation and a design philosophy that focuses on accessible technologies such as desktop 3D printers. TOM maintains more than 50 campus communities across the US, including at Columbia University, Stanford, and New York University.
Its portfolio includes a low-cost mobility device for toddlers priced at approximately $150, distributed across the US, Israel, Turkey, Morocco, and Pakistan, and a parametric prosthesis developed for an Israeli wounded veteran and a quadri-amputee from Singapore, priced at approximately $120.
