The UK is world-class at invention, but we fall short when it comes to commercialising those ideas. This gap inspired me to bridge my educational and working worlds. The IfM gave me an incredible foundation in engineering rigour and the realisation that a small team can make a big impact. BLUE GARAGE is taking that spirit and applying it to real-world innovation challenges.

Michael Korn

Michael's latest initiative, BLUE GARAGE, is an "Applied Commercialisation Lab”, part lab, part community, part launchpad, designed to help early-stage companies move from working prototypes to scalable, investable products.

“The UK is world-class at invention, but we fall short when it comes to commercialising those ideas,” Michael explains. “This gap inspired me to bridge my educational and working worlds. The Institute for Manufacturing (IfM) gave me an incredible foundation in engineering rigour and the realisation that a small team can make a big impact. BLUE GARAGE is taking that spirit and applying it to real-world innovation challenges.”

From Manufacturing Engineering Tripos (MET) to manufacturing

Michael began his journey in 2004 on the IfM’s MET course. While he was already drawn to manufacturing and building something of his own, it was the MET programme that grounded him in how things are made and how to make them better.

“I didn’t even know what an entrepreneur was back then,” he reflects. “On finishing my degree, most of my coursemates were going into consultancy, but I was writing to everyone I knew who ran a factory in London, trying to get hands-on experience.”

Through the MET mix of engineering, operations, and business, Michael gained both the technical insight and commercial understanding needed to build real products. It wasn’t until he joined the Industrial Design Engineering (IDE) course at the Royal College of Art that the creative element fell into place.

“IDE gave me the confidence to invent, to work from a blank sheet of paper,” he says. “There’s a clear pathway: MET gave me the foundation, IDE unlocked creativity, and together they led me to entrepreneurship.”

His final IDE project became KwickScreen, an innovative, retractable hospital privacy screen. Originally prototyped using an A4 sheet and a tape measure, it has since become a staple in healthcare environments across the world, being used in every trust in the NHS and over 200 North American hospitals.

BLUE GARAGE: bridging the gap

After 15 years leading KwickScreen, Michael is turning his attention to helping the next generation of innovators bring their ideas to life. BLUE GARAGE is his answer to the challenge many founders face after leaving university, navigating the critical post-R&D phase, often referred to as the “valley of death”.

“The IfM experience is incredibly energising. Working on real problems inside real companies, often as a small team,” he says. “Many graduates leave with ideas worth pursuing, but support drops off just when they need it most. BLUE GARAGE fills that gap.”

The first site, located in Lewisham, Southeast London, an 8-minute train ride to London Bridge, focuses on everything that a hardware / physical product startup needs to accelerate its commercialisation. BLUE GARAGE offers:

• State-of-the-art fabrication labs and equipment - lowering capital barriers and enabling rapid prototyping or subcontract fabrication, and onsite batch production with flexible coworking and office space options.
• A curated community – a peer-led ecosystem of engineers, designers, entrepreneurs and founders, echoing the IfM’s supportive and collaborative learning culture.
• Strategic industry partnerships and programmes – making it easier for early-stage companies to test in real-world settings and secure pilot customers before seeking further investment and/or becoming profitable.

More than a makerspace

Unlike traditional incubators or co-working spaces, BLUE GARAGE supports the messy, hands-on work of moving physical products from concept to commercial reality.

“It’s about recreating the IfM spirit and accelerating its potential in the real world,” says Michael. “I remember working on MET placements where small teams of students identified huge opportunities that had been overlooked for years, and we sometimes effected real change in commercial environments. That blend of sharp thinking, practical experimentation and commercial exploitation is exactly what BLUE GARAGE is all about.”

He also sees BLUE GARAGE as a valuable partner for larger organisations looking to innovate more effectively, providing a “walled garden” where ideas can be tested and refined without the constraints of corporate structures.

National vision

While BLUE GARAGE’s flagship site is in London, Michael’s vision is national. The model is designed to be adapted to regional hubs that align with local industrial strengths and can thus support clusters of innovative manufacturing.

“What the IfM gave me, and so many others, is too valuable to stay within one institution,” he says. “BLUE GARAGE is about scaling that mindset and capability across the UK.”

Looking ahead, Michael plans to develop a dedicated patient capital fund, helping companies move from early traction to scalable operations, completing the pipeline from IfM-style learning to national impact.

BLUE GARAGE have a Materials Innovation Demo Day on Thursday 16 October 2025 from 17:00 - 21:00 

Over 150 guests from startups, scaleups and universities, together with investors and senior government decision makers keen to support the establishment of an innovation enterprise cluster are expected to attend. Register to attend here.  

The BLUE GARAGE Materialise programme supported 45 textiles-related startups to develop their products and businesses. You can learn about the programme here.

This video of the local MP visit gives a taste of what BLUE GARAGE are doing.  

"Our ambition with BLUE GARAGE is to build a new innovation enterprise cluster that supports high-growth hardware startups and scale-up businesses, facing similar challenges to those we encountered when establishing and scaling KwickScreen. I'm exploring how we can best deliver on this mission and am actively looking for partners and sponsors to get involved at this early stage." Michael Korn

Visit the BLUE GARAGE website or contact Michael to learn more:

Website: https://www.bluegarage.org/

Email: michael@bluegarage.org 

Mobile: 07886 034601

This article is adapted from one that originally appeared on the IfM website.