Connecting business and engineering students to give them real-world multidisciplinary experience, developing innovative leaders that can solve industry problems, and better collaborating with companies are key for Marquette University's Innovation Alley initiative under its new executive director.
John Knapp, who previously was the director of external relations for Marquette's college of business administration, is Innovation Alley's first full-time executive director effective this week.
Innovation Alley is a partnership between the university's business administration and engineering colleges, funded by donations from Chuck and Karen Swoboda and the Fotsch Family Foundation. It was envisioned in 2017 as a physical facility connecting Marquette's business school and engineering school buildings.
While Innovation Alley will have a space within the new $60 million Marquette business school facility at 16th Street and Wisconsin Avenue kitty-corner to the engineering building, Innovation Alley is more focused on programming development, Knapp said.
Marquette University's philosophy is that people, not processes, are essential for innovation within companies and organizations, he said.
"A lot of times in traditional business environments, groups can be risk-averse," Knapp said. "What we want to do is help create the leaders that can move these teams beyond just meeting objectives to more of this discovery-driven problem-solving that drives innovation and drives growth."
As part of that, Knapp aims to better connect Innovation Alley with real-world businesses to give students applied learning experiences and to give companies access to in-demand talent. He said the university is talking to a few companies but declined to share specifics due to non-disclosure agreements.
"We'll have several programs that are going to be great opportunities for companies that understand the need for innovation leadership in their organizations and are concerned about recruiting future talent," Knapp said.
Existing Innovation Alley programs include a three-year undergraduate leadership development program called E-Lead and a seven-week virtual professional development series called Igniting Insights.
Knapp said he is tasked with creating a five-year strategic plan for Innovation Alley, which he expects to have a version of sometime in the fall 2022 semester.
