"Hi Paul,As a design educator and avid prototyper, I share your passion for makerspaces. Some business models have failed. I personally would say that is not unexpected. On that note I would like to point out the difference between educational spaces and library spaces and those envisioned as money making enterprises. In terms of education we are just starting to explore the true potential of the experiential learning that students get by having access to such a space in an engineering or design program. There is ample research on making these spaces be sustainable enterprises. I would suggest that if people read and learn from it, then we might see less failure as there are a lot of lessons learned. Some recent literature includes:Makerspaces and Local Economic DevelopmentEric Joseph van HolmMaking Makerspaces Work: A Comparative Case Study of Makerspaces and Their SupportWoolls, Tracy Kocher.Capella University, ProQuest Dissertations Publishing, 2018. 10930457.Eric Joseph van Holm"