In collaboration with NMSU's Arrowhead Center and The Larta Institute,
get help with non-dilutive funding (SBIR/STTR) and get assistance with customer discovery and market validation.
Open to all innovators: technical workers, healthcare workers, community college instructors, "trailing spouses" with technical ideas - or startup support abilities- and of course PhD researchers exploring entrepreneurship pathways.
Ongoing Startup Support
at Los Alamos Makers
Practical tools, flexible space, and real-world guidance for scientist-founders, creative technologists, and early-stage innovators.
Los Alamos Makers is more than a makerspace—it's a launchpad for people turning ideas into products, companies, and impact. We help founders move from concept to prototype to early validation through hands-on support, shared facilities, and a uniquely collaborative environment designed for experimentation.
Whether you’re a scientist exploring commercialization, a creative technologist building your first hardware product, or a startup team seeking a low-overhead place to test, iterate, and grow, Los Alamos Makers offers the structure, connections, and tools you need.
What We Offer
• Prototyping & Fabrication
Access 3D printing, laser cutting, electronics benches, CNC, digital design stations, and more.
• Modular Wet-Lab Access
Through our partnership with The Community Lab LLC, teams can access shared bench space, core equipment, and a safe, flexible environment for benchtop biotech and early R&D.
• Business & Technical Guidance
From practical commercialization steps to technical troubleshooting, we help founders gain clarity, momentum, and strategic direction—without the overhead of traditional incubators.
• Talent & Collaboration Network
Connect with creative technologists, engineers, scientists, designers, mentors, and regional partners ready to collaborate on prototypes, experiments, or early technical validation.
• Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) Opportunities
Los Alamos Makers hosts external founders and companies exploring collaboration with Northern New Mexico’s scientific ecosystem—including LANL—while leveraging programs like NMSBA, TRIGR, and federal innovation pathways.
• Community & Events
Regular workshops, meetups, demo days, open labs, and the Los Alamos Tech Meetup bring together innovators from Northern New Mexico and beyond.
For Whom
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First-time founders needing a practical, supportive starting point
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Scientists and researchers exploring pathways beyond the lab or university
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Creative technologists building hardware, wearables, IoT, or digital-fabrication-driven products
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Rural innovators seeking access to equipment, expertise, and a collaborative community
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Established teams wanting a low-friction satellite location near Los Alamos
Why It Works
High overhead slows down innovation. We offer the opposite:
flexibility, shared infrastructure, milestone-driven progress, and a community of problem-solvers.
Los Alamos Makers’ model mirrors what national innovation research now confirms—including NSF’s new Tech Labs initiative:
independent, cross-disciplinary, modular environments accelerate the transition from idea to real-world impact.
Start Here
Whether you have a sketch on a napkin, a bench-ready experiment, or an early prototype that needs iteration, Los Alamos Makers can help you build the next step.
Reach out, visit the space, or join an upcoming Tech Meetup to learn how we can support your journey.
The Innovation Exploration Lab is an early-stage entrepreneurship program designed to help all innovators move from idea to validated opportunity.
Delivered through a collaboration between Los Alamos Makers, The Larta Institute, and NMSU Arrowhead Center, the program introduces founders to SBIR/STTR funding pathways, helping participants understand how federal innovation grants can support early technology ventures.
The program also focuses on the most critical early startup skills: customer discovery, problem validation, and identifying real market demand. Participants will learn how to conduct customer interviews, test assumptions, and refine their ideas before investing significant time or money in development.
Along the way, founders connect with other participants, mentors, and technical collaborators—creating opportunities to build teams around promising ideas and strengthen ventures with complementary skills.
The Startup Lab is open to scientists, engineers, and aspiring founders who want to explore entrepreneurship and develop solutions grounded in real market needs.