As a media researcher, Sam Ford was working in collaboration with a few labs at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2016 when he got into a discussion about the future of work.
The native Kentuckian was talking to a world-renowned roboticist who said, "I look at the future of work I see all these possibilities, new technologies and new fields being created, but I feel like there's a lot of pessimism about the future of work."
"I just offhandedly said something like, 'Well, it's hard to be excited about the future if you don't think you're in it,'" Ford recalled. "If you're in a place like Boston, people are excited about the future of work because they imagine it will happen there. The narrative that often exists is that if you're in a place like Kentucky, it won't happen here."
That conversation eventually led to the founding of AccelerateKY, which is on a mission to connect, inform and inspire.
The nonprofit organization looks to unleash the potential of Kentucky’s innovators and entrepreneurs through generating new stories, relationships and initiatives and, in turn, creating new wealth. It also aims to be a central meeting place where stakeholders from the aforementioned sectors can gather to collaborate on initiatives that strengthen Kentucky's innovation capacity.
How it came to be
Ford, well aware of the innovative companies the commonwealth had to offer, influenced MIT to make a stop in Western Kentucky, sparking a dialog between the Cambridge, Massachusetts institution and Kentucky innovators.
Those initial connections ultimately led to Kentucky being the first U.S. site for MIT's Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program (REAP) in 2018. The program required participation and engagement from five key stakeholder groups, including entrepreneurs, risk capital firms, corporate entities, higher ed institutions and local governments.
Vince Edwards, CEO of Empire Builders, was one of the participants in that program. Through REAP, Edwards said the cohort chose to focus on creating a nonprofit that would help accelerate and improve Kentucky's entrepreneurial ecosystem.
"The strength of MIT REAP is that you can take their teachings and apply them to your local problems," said Edwards, who is now an AccelerateKY fellow. "Then you take the expertise and experience of your team to help develop something unique to what you're trying to accomplish to help build economic development and create a better entrepreneurial ecosystem."
That's the foundation of AccelerateKY, which functions as sort of a network of networks, Ford explained.
"We want to form connections across those stakeholder groups," he said. "We don't want to duplicate any efforts of existing organizations but rather act as a connective tissue."
Additionally, the new nonprofit wants to capitalize on the strategic advantage Kentucky has of being a crossroads between the Midwest, South and Appalachia. Ford said AccelerateKY will look to connect potential partners outside the state with partners inside the commonwealth to spur future collaboration.
"After going through the MIT REAP program and some of these other labs that we've worked with, what are ways that we build best-in-class relationships?" he said. "If we build an ecosystem that really supports innovation, how do we bring outside partners in who want to do pilot projects, work with partners and fund things that are in in Kentucky, and demonstrate that we have an environment that is conducive for that?"
AccelerateKY's kickoff event will be held on Friday, Oct. 15, at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky. The event will feature a keynote from MIT REAP's Dr. Phil Budden and remarks from other MIT collaborators and Kentucky innovators. You can find more details and register to attend here.
