Students may find that Makerspaces and/or Hackerspaces are good places to build a prototype, experiment, and find resources including talent.
“Makerspaces are non-program based community work spaces that provide equipment for specific sectors of manufacturing (e.g., technology, 3D printing, woodworking, food) and provide the tools, training, and specialized equipment necessary for creating and building physical products”
Hackerspaces are similar to makerspaces, only they tend to focus on computer software and hardware.
According to Hackerspaces.org: “Are community-operated physical places, where people share their interest in tinkering with technology, meet and work on their projects, and learn from each other.”
One example of a Hackerspace is the Edinburgh Hacklab: “Making stuff since 2010”
Hackerspace.org has a list of over 2,300 Hackerspaces around the world. See the list or map view on the organizations website: