By Ball State Communications—
MUNCIE, IN— Ball State University will celebrate the official opening of its new Center for Innovation and Collaboration with a ribbon-cutting ceremony at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 24, at the corner of Martin Street and Ashland Avenue in Muncie.
The event is free and open to the public. Parking will be available on the fourth floor of the McKinley Avenue Parking Garage. Guests are asked to RSVP to the Office of the President at rsvp@bsu.edu.
Following the ceremony, guests will have an opportunity to explore the new facility, its technology, and the work already underway inside the center.
The Center for Innovation and Collaboration is a key component of Ball State’s Village Revitalization Plan, and it was created as a University-wide hub where students, faculty, staff, businesses, entrepreneurs, and community organizations can work together on real-world challenges. Its mission is to make collaboration across disciplines and organizations easier by bringing together people, technology, expertise, and project support in one place.
“The opening of the Center for Innovation and Collaboration represents an exciting milestone for our University and for the continued revitalization of the Village,” said Ball State President Geoffrey S. Mearns. “I am grateful to the many colleagues and community partners whose vision and hard work have brought this project to fruition. I invite members of our campus and broader community to join us as we celebrate this remarkable new space and the opportunities it will create for our students, our partners, and our region.”
The three-story center was designed to encourage experimentation and interaction among people from across the University and beyond. The first floor features a 2,300-square-foot Showcase Lab with a curved LED wall, digital displays, and touchscreens; a Prototyping Lab for building and testing ideas; and a satellite space for Ball State’s IDIA (Institute for Digital Intermedia Arts) Lab, which specializes in augmented, virtual, and mixed-reality experiences.
The second floor includes a collaboration café and terrace overlooking the Alderdice Gates, video editing and podcast studios, meeting and focus rooms, and an open work area. It is also the new home of Ball State’s Digital Corps. The third floor houses center leadership, as well as satellite offices for Emerging Media Design and Development, the Entrepreneurship Center, the Entrepreneurial Leadership Institute, and the Career Center. Other University collaborators include the Honors College and Lifetime Learning.
The center also strengthens connections between Ball State and the broader community. The Muncie-Delaware County Black Chamber of Commerce and East Central Indiana Small Business Development Center are among the community collaborators with a presence in the center, helping connect University expertise and resources with entrepreneurs, businesses, and organizations throughout the region.
“What excites me about the center is seeing people with different experiences and expertise working side by side on ideas that can make a meaningful difference,” said Bette Smith, director of the Center for Innovation and Collaboration. “We want students, faculty, staff, businesses, and community partners to use this space to experiment, build something together, and turn promising ideas into action. The projects already underway are giving us an early glimpse of what that can look like.”
Six inaugural projects are already demonstrating the Center’s cross-disciplinary reach. These projects include initiatives involving youth digital storytelling, artificial intelligence and creativity assessment, interactive and augmented-reality art, Muncie public art, sustainability-focused game design, and immersive experiences highlighting Muncie’s cultural history and pop culture. The projects involve students and faculty across multiple disciplines as well as community organizations throughout Muncie and Central Indiana.
Industry engagement is another component of the Center’s work, connecting Ball State expertise and student talent with business challenges, emerging technologies, and workforce needs. Current industry collaborators include RADcube, DOGU Robotics, Team of Wakers, Aloft AeroArchitects, Feenix, Peak Mind, and INVST.
DOGU Robotics will also participate in the Sept. 24 celebration, with one of the company’s iroi robots operating in display mode inside the Center. The indoor robot includes autonomous navigation technology and an interactive touchscreen that can support functions such as information display, media playback, video communication, and guidance. The collaboration builds on DOGU Robotics’ previous involvement with Ball State students through a communication project in the Miller College of Business.
For more information about the Center for Innovation and Collaboration, email innovation@bsu.edu or call 765-285-2500.
About Ball State
Founded in 1918 and located in Muncie, Ball State University is one of Indiana’s premier universities and an economic driver for the state. Ball State’s 20,000 students come from all over Indiana, the nation, and the world. The 790-acre campus is large enough to accommodate first-rate facilities and 19 NCAA Division I sports, but our welcoming campus is small enough to ensure the friendliness, personal attention, and access that are the hallmarks of the University. We Fly!
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