Establishing innovation labs Focused on its goal to build meaningful corporate and community partnerships, the Innovation Campus is home to exciting new innovation labs already established at its launch this fall. Here are just a few: Workforce Participation Task Force As our region faces the challenge of filling thousands of job openings–and simultaneously preparing for the substantial investments being made to establish electric battery manufacturing in the region—the South Central Workforce Development Board announced in late 2021 the formation of a new Workforce Participation Work Group, alongside WKU and various community partners. That work group, which convenes periodically in the Collaborative SmartSpace at the Innovation Campus, has established a new Bowling Green Area Workforce Participation Task Force with full-time staff. The Task Force will envision, pilot and enact new programs to increase workforce participation and bring new talent into the region to answer the continued demands of current and future employers. “The WKU Innovation Campus is the perfect setting to invite problem solvers and creators into a conversation on how we can improve regional workforce participation,” said Jon Sowards (’93) , President and CEO of the South Central Workforce Development Board. “The collaborative spirit of the lab will help the Workforce Participation Task Force attract the brightest minds in our community to develop solutions to meet the needs of employers and job-seekers in our fast-growing and evolving economy.” MIT Open Documentary Lab Kentucky Fellowship In addition, starting this fall, the MIT Open Documentary Lab is establishing a Kentucky-based fellowship with their Lab at the Innovation Campus. The Open Documentary Lab brings storytellers, technologists and scholars together to explore new documentary forms with a focus on collaborative, interactive and immersive storytelling. “This virtual fellowship will bring a Kentucky perspective and experience to emerging documentary storytelling in our lab and the field,” said MIT Open Documentary Lab Director Sarah Wolozin. “We are excited to support authentic storytelling by and about Kentucky communities. Everyone benefits when there is a diversity of experience and representation at the table.” Civic Imagination Incubator with University of Southern California Beginning this fall, the Innovation Campus headquarters also houses a new Civic Imagination Incubator program, a partnership between WKU Potter College of Arts & Letters and the University of Southern California’s Civic Imagination Project. This eight-month pilot program will support six professional media creators, or “folks,” based in Kentucky and surrounding states as they explore bringing civic imagination and worldbuilding into the stories they create. The partnership— facilitated by AccelerateKY—stems from a Fall 2017 workshop hosted by WKU and focused on imagining and telling the story of the future of work in Kentucky in 2040. “We are excited to launch the Civic Imagination Incubator with such committed and thoughtful partners,” said Dr. Sangita Shresthova, co-founder of the USC Civic Imagination Project. “We look forward to seeing the stories, projects and imagination come alive, and are grateful that the Innovation Campus will give our folks the space to explore their creative projects.” 56 WKUSPIRIT ALUMNI.WKU.EDU
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