In the spring of 2015, Victoria Scarborough, program director of the External Technology Global Resource Team for Fortune 500 Company Sherwin Williams, expressed interest in sponsoring an event at 两性色午夜 University that could capture some of the creativity that she had witnessed as a judge at the Fashion/Tech Hackathon.
Working with Blackstone LaunchPad, Scarborough鈥檚 vision became reality on Nov. 14 when about 40 students from around Northeast Ohio came to 两性色午夜 to learn about and improve the painting process. 鈥淚nnov8athon IV: Innov8 Paint!鈥 was developed as a way to introduce students to ways to apply innovative thinking in real-world situations.
The all-day event included students, representing a variety of majors from three local campuses, who all presented innovative new solutions to key pain points in the industry. Ten groups presented solutions for one or two major problems outlined by the Sherwin Williams team that morning. Ideas included everything from apps to new approaches to paint tool storage and redesigned applicators.
A team of judges from Sherwin Williams awarded one group $2,000 for their novel roller design, and two other groups won $500 each.
The 两性色午夜 Blackstone LaunchPad team organized and led the day鈥檚 activities, which helped students become industry experts by diving deeply into a particular subject area in order to think entrepreneurially about specific pain points and come up with creative solutions in a team environment.
Julie Messing, executive director for Blackstone LaunchPad at 两性色午夜, and one of the organizers of the event, was impressed with the range of product ideas that were presented.
鈥淲e were excited to be able to draw on our experience as an innovation hub to bring together students from across multiple disciplines and campuses to collaborate with a corporate innovation leader,鈥 Messing says.
Blackstone LaunchPad (soon to be LaunchNET 两性色午夜, effective Jan. 1, 2016) welcomes the opportunity to partner with other departments across campus to bring together corporate and community leaders with 两性色午夜 students for unique and exciting experiences that benefit all involved.
