DuBOIS, Pa. — With a pledge of $50,000, the Symmco Foundation has created the Symmco Foundation LaunchBox Endowment at Penn State DuBois. The purpose of this endowment is to provide unrestricted support for the operational and programing needs of the North Central Pennsylvania (NCPA) LaunchBox powered by Penn State DuBois.

The pledge was matched one-to-one by Penn State through a now concluded matching gifts program, providing a $100,000 endowment to support the NCPA LaunchBox and its Idea Lab.

The LaunchBox aims to support manufacturing competitiveness and workforce needs, growing and attracting talented entrepreneurs and innovators and creating new high-knowledge, high-technology businesses for the region. The Idea Lab offers students, faculty, staff and members of the community the opportunity to utilize various levels of 3D printers and a commercial vinyl printer to create prototypes, marketing materials and more.

“It’s impossible for me to overstate how much the support of the Symmco Foundation has meant to the LaunchBox and the Idea Lab,” said Brad Lashinsky, program director for the North Central PA LaunchBox powered by Penn State DuBois. “The foundation has helped us expand our horizons in so many ways, not only through monetary efforts, but also by helping us connect and serve the community around us.”

Symmco Inc., a solutions innovator for some of today’s toughest design challenges, is headquartered in Sykesville, eight miles south of Penn State DuBois. Symmco demonstrates its dedication to the community through the Symmco Foundation, which supports a wide range of organizations, activities and events.

“The Symmco Foundation, through its sponsoring organization Symmco Inc., recognizes the importance of the DuBois campus of Penn State, a major research institution, in our community and has provided support through the years, including the Symmco House, the Symmco Open Doors Scholarship and support with engineering technology, just to name a few examples,” said John Bean, co-trustee of the Symmco Foundation and chairman of Symmco Group Inc. “The LaunchBox is the next logical extension of this support. In essence, it’s a launching platform for ideas that will grow to provide jobs and economic benefit to the community, as does the presence of the Penn State DuBois campus.”

The endowment directly supports the NCPA LaunchBox with funding to conduct education of local entrepreneurs, provide seed grant opportunities to local innovators and assist with new equipment purchases for the LaunchBox and Idea Lab. Since its creation, the funds from the endowment have allowed for further development of the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) programming available through the Idea Lab, as well as supporting the LaunchBox in its industry 4.0 mission, according to Lashinsky.

Created in 2019, the NCPA LaunchBox provides no-cost services such as assistance with business plan development, assistance with grant applications, educational seminars for entrepreneurs, workforce training and more. The LaunchBox also innovates solutions for area businesses and individuals in the on-campus Idea Lab. Featuring 3D printers, 3D scanning hardware and software and a vinyl printer/cutter, the lab is available to anyone in search of help in developing a prototype, reverse engineering, and inspection.

Since 2015, the Invent Penn State initiative has awarded seed grants to 21 campuses to create LaunchBoxes and innovation spaces, and to date, the NCPA LaunchBox has served over 14,700 clients, including 42 new start-ups. This mission is continuously driven through collaboration with area industry and communities. Visit the NCPA Launchbox website here.

Lashinsky is available to assist businesses and individuals in finding ways to meet their unique needs. He can be reached at 814-375-4704 or bwl128@psu.edu.

“With the support of the Symmco endowment, we are making significant progress toward addressing our community's ever-growing workforce and entrepreneurial needs,” Jungwoo Ryoo, chancellor and chief academic officer at Penn State DuBois said. “We thank the Symmco Foundation for their unrelenting support. We will do our best to steward this new resource to make a positive and lasting difference.”

Bean added, “The Symmco Foundation has been a long-time supporter of Penn State DuBois and we look forward to continuing the mutual beneficial relationship. Our community needs to support the DuBois campus and LaunchBox, recognizing the inestimable benefit to all the community."

Donors like the Symmco Foundation advance the University’s historic land-grant mission to serve and lead. Through philanthropy, alumni and friends are helping students to join the Penn State family and prepare for lifelong success; driving research, outreach and economic development that grow our shared strength and readiness for the future; and increasing the University’s impact for families, patients, and communities across the commonwealth and around the world. Learn more by visiting raise.psu.edu.

For information on giving at Penn State DuBois, contact Director of Development Jean Wolf at 814-372-3038 or jaw57@psu.edu.