Equipped with “cutting-edge tools and technology,” the lab space co-designed with the program’s students and industry partners includes dedicated areas for each of the program's career pathways “to ensure alignment with workforce demands and equitable access to opportunity,”  Digital Ready announced. 

“Our apprentices are designing real projects alongside architects, engineers and local artists while earning college credit and industry recognized credentials,” Betza Valdez, project manager for Digital Ready’s Youth-Led Architecture Design studio, said. “We’re building pathways into Boston’s innovation economy that are rooted in hands-on experience, community collaboration and possibility.” 

Among the lab's industry and community supporters are the Boston mayor’s office of Economic Opportunity & Inclusion, Massachusetts Life Science Center, Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, Cummings Foundation and Mass General Brigham Community Health Impact Fund.

Digital Ready Executive Director, Sarah Cherry Rice called the lab a “launchpad.” Named an ENR Top 25 Newsmaker in 2023 for her efforts to create the nonprofit, she added, “We’re building a space where young people can dream big, experiment boldly and prepare for careers that wills shape the future of our city.”

Rice, who holds a doctorate in education leadership from Harvard Graduate School of Education, said when she was named a Top 25 Newsmaker, the program was among the first in the country to include a “Year 13,” or a bridge year that blurs “the lines between high school, higher education and industry.”