In the three years since Open Works debuted on Greenmount Avenue, the 34,000-square-foot space has gained a foothold as a space for makers and entrepreneurs to build products and companies. It’s also brought in opportunities for education and community connections.

The space has accounted for $8.5 million in economic impact on a combined state and local level, a new report focusing on the space titled “Turning Makerspaces into Greater Places” shows. The space supports more than 55 small businesses and supports 118 jobs, when factoring in both employees who work at the space and the members who use its micro-studios and use its tools.

It has made news locally, but it also has a place in the national conversation, said Dr. Ron Williams, a professor at Coppin State University who leads the West Baltimore university business school’s Center of Strategic Ingepreneurship. Williams was the principal investigator on the new report that takes a measure of the space’s operations, and its local economic impact.

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