The Wond’ry: An Epicenter for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Date and Time
Friday Sep 21, 2018
7:00 AM - 9:00 AM CDT
Friday, Septemeber 21st from 7-9AM.
Location
The Wond'ry
2414 Highland Ave. #102
Nashville, TN 37212
Fees/Admission
For Disruption Lab Members, tickets are free. Tickets for non-Disruption Lab Members are $35.
Website
Contact Information
Katie@thedisruptionlab.com
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Description
The Disruption Lab heads to the Wond’ry, an epicenter of innovation and entrepreneurship within the heart of Nashville, TN. Made up of a cluster of state-of-the-art innovation labs for graduate students, faculty, staff and employees of Vanderbilt University, the Wond’ry attracts a mashup of curious thinkers, researchers, cross-functional and interdisciplinary teams.
The Wond’ry is a unique place not just in Tennessee, but on university campuses nation-wide. What makes the Wond’ry different is its attention to design, the utilization of space and facilitation of how humans interact, socialize, create and collaborate. One of its distinct features is its transparency, enabled by the abundant use of windows, open winding staircases, and labs that look across catwalks into other labs. Even the walls can be easily shifted and reconfigured to support the shape of innovation happening in real time. We’ll tour the engineering, art and entrepreneur labs, makerspace, and 10,000 SF Clean Room. Together, these inhabit the three-story LEED Gold certified building. Lab Members will explore the new Virtual Reality lab and Makerspaces while learning about real-world applications student and faculty teams are developing to improve how people work, live and advance products and services used every day. 3D printing machines, nanoscale materials, humans, teams, creativity and innovation are the building blocks for anyone entering the Wond’ry. You only need to come with an open mind.
In this session, David Owens, Professor of the Practice of Management and Innovation at the Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University, Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Wond'ry, also the chief visionary of the Wond’ry from its inception, and an Associate of The Disruption Lab, will present on the vision and how the Wond’ry became a reality at Vanderbilt University. He’ll also illuminate the differences and similarities of how a research institution approaches and supports innovation compared and contrasted with how entrepreneurs and corporate innovators must approach innovation. Robert Grajewski, Evans Family Executive Director of the Wond'ry, will present on current programs and initiatives that serve their mission and offer effective solutions to pressing societal problems, the Wond’ry’s role within the larger innovation ecosystem, and their process for testing new ideas and then, once proven, how teams take them out into the world.
Coffee and light food will be provided. Following David and Robert's presentation, there will be a Q&A session. There is a parking garage located across the street from the Wond'ry.