When it comes to innovation, Matthew Friedel said he believes Milwaukeeans do not give themselves enough credit for the boundless talent within the city and elsewhere in the metro area.
“We seem to have this ‘Debbie Downer’ opinion of ourselves,” said Friedel, who this spring co-founded the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Disruptive Technologies Lab.
Friedel’s goal behind the new initiative is to showcase the bounty of talent across the local landscape.
By harnessing UWM’s on-campus resources, Friedel said the lab serves as a hub for research, innovation and collaboration for technologies such as the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and Blockchain technologies.
Friedel, who described himself as “an app developer at heart,” serves as a senior lecturer in UWM’s school of information sciences, the corner of the campus overseeing the lab. Jacques du Plessis, an associate professor in the same department, founded the lab with Friedel.
Since its launch this spring, Friedel said the lab has intermingled each of the three major disruptive technologies and is open to integrating other concepts into the mix as well. The way he sees it, Friedel said it is best to have all players working in tandem, rather than autonomously.
“If we’re going to change, we have to do it together, collectively,” he said. “We want to be a part of the tech ecosystem.”
When the lab first opened, it was positioned as a resource and space for students interested in working on nascent technologies, including voice apps for such digital assistant platforms as Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri, as well as Google Assistant and interactive web chat bots.
The mid-semester rollout this spring was a taste of what’s to come, Friedel hinted, and he envisions greater participation across UWM’s student body when the fall semester kicks into gear.
As the host department, the lab has been set up in space within the SOIS building on campus. Friedel compared it to a makerspace, where interested persons of all skill sets can use the lab as their schedule permits.
“We designed the lab to be a common space,” Friedel said. “Collaboration just makes sense.”
Forging ahead, Friedel said the intent is to offer more than just a space for innovative students. Plans call for the lab hosting interdisciplinary courses, boot camps, seminars and workshops.
UWM is one of a growing number of higher education institutions pledging more resources toward innovation.
SOIS Dean Thomas Lipinski said he is behind the lab and hopes UWM will play a role in Milwaukee’s startup and entrepreneurial culture in the years ahead.
“With our strong applied technologies curriculum and instructional expertise, we recognized that SOIS and innovating campus partners such as the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center are in a unique position to assist strategic industry and nonprofit partners in Milwaukee, both big and small,” Lipinski said in a statement.
