Alabama Innovation Listening Tour visits Stillman College

Posted on October 27, 2022 by Design in Design Innovation | 0 Comments

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WBRC) – A listening tour to find innovative ways to move Alabama forward stopped in West Alabama Thursday. Political and business leaders heard ways to keep talented individuals in-state after college among other ideas.

The group is traveling around the state to hear from different communities. They want to support underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Stillman President, Dr. Cynthia Warrick talked to them about BioGradMatch. That’s a partnership between Stillman and the Admit Academy to help students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities navigate mental and logistical hurdles to successfully apply for biomedical graduate programs. Innovate Alabama wants to retain talent in the state, help post-secondary education to grow and bring new talent to Alabama. The discussion at Stillman focused on identifying opportunities in West Alabama to support locally made technology.

One Innovate Alabama board member explained why it was important to hear from people like representatives from Stillman College.

“Alabama has more HBCU’s than any state in the Union. There’s no secret that the HBCU network is well and wide known. And for us to be an Alabama Corporation working in Alabama it’s incumbent on us to make those connections and inroads to actually service the HBCU community cause it’s a big makeup of who Alabama is,” explained Abe Harper.

After the roundtable discussion at Stillman College, Innovate Alabama leaders held a monthly board of directors meeting at the University of Alabama. More roundtable discussions will happen around the state at later dates.

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