MARQUETTE, Mich. (WZMQ) – Northern Michigan University’s Innovation Week is on day two which had participants break out into a variety of workshops and sessions covering artificial intelligence and even playing with legos.
“I see creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurship on a continuum. I think at the earliest we’re talking about creativity as thinking about new things,” commented Lego Serious Play Presenter Garret Westlake Ph.D. The Lego building might’ve had a playful atmosphere, but the takeaways of team bonding and creatively thinking outside the box are serious.
“One of the exercises we do in Lego serious play is that you realize that you have all the tools in front of you because a Lego brick can be anything you say it is,” continued Westlake.
Innovation Week was also able to highlight some new products in the electric space with E-bikes and even electric snowmobiles. The electric quad bike as Eric Prue from Innovate Marquette explains, allows those with limited mobility to experience the outdoors and enjoy the trails. “It’s as fun as anything else out there so being able to have limited mobility users use this vehicle out in the space is just tremendous,” commented Prue.
As technologies such as electric bikes and artificial intelligence exponentially move forward, these events help the networking part of it move forward as well.
“As a business owner, it’s just an amazing platform and community to be a part of,” commented the Owner of Bates Bike Rentals Everett Bates.
“I own a restaurant and entertainment company, the guy that runs the AI, artificial intelligence might not know that we have a relationship but it can be where we’re talking going hey what’s the next trend generating food concepts and it’s just a cool way to have that experience,” commented DIGS Bar and Restaurant Owner, Pat Digneit.
Click here for the full schedule of Northern Michigan University’s Innovation Week.
