Avnet expands ecosystem with Dragon Innovation acquisition

“With the addition of Dragon Innovation to our connected ecosystem, Avnet further meets the needs for companies of all sizes head on – helping them launch new hardware products in an efficient and cost-effective manner that accelerates time to market,” said Bill Amelio (pictured), chief executive officer of Avnet. “Dragon Innovation’s hardware manufacturing expertise augments Avnet’s design and supply chain capabilities beyond electronic components to encompass the entire finished product. Equally important, Dragon Innovation complements our digital strategy by delivering their services through a combination of software and access to subject matter experts matched to the customers’ needs as they move swiftly through the stages of product development.”

The acquisition of Dragon Innovation enhances Avnet’s role in developing new technology products by simplifying the manufacturing process, particularly for those projects that advance Internet of Things (IoT).

Most recently Avnet has acquired Premier Farnell (which includes its element14 community) and Hackster.io to expand the distributor’s reach to more than two million customers and an active community of more than 750,000 entrepreneurs, makers and engineers.

In May, Avnet, through a collaboration with Dragon Innovation and Kickstarter, announced Hardware Studio, an initiative that will give creators access to expertise, tools and resources to supply, design, build and deliver their ideas to market.

“By providing customers with the fastest, simplest, safest way to manufacture at scale, Dragon Innovation’s vision is to make manufacturing feel easy. We use a combination of technology and human expertise built into accessible, straightforward online tools,” said Scott N. Miller, chief executive officer of Dragon Innovation. “We are thrilled to be joining Avnet, an established market leader who shares our values and has significant resources and reach to enable us to help companies build hardware better than ever before.”

Dragon Innovation, through its cloud-based platform, paired with a team of hardware manufacturing experts, manages the full manufacturing process, from strategy and planning for earlier stage products to factory selection and production oversight.

Its modern SaaS platform, Product Planner, coupled with humans in the loop greatly simplifies and de-risks the journey from “One to Many.” The company has worked across a wide range of industries including emerging IoT vertical segments such as home automation, wearables, robotics and automotive.