Innovation Summit Success

Flying ties and breathless enthusiasm filled the air at Hayward Field during the QuackTrackPitch competition where a 400-meter sprint around the track could get students up to $500 in support for their venture.

The new twist on the elevator pitch was characteristic of the first-ever UO Innovation Summit, a cross-campus celebration and exchange of ideas held on Oct. 27.

Students, faculty and staff, and community members were invited to share in the festival-like atmosphere and expand their knowledge on a variety of topics.

Enthusiasm for the summit kicked off with a flash during Light Up Lillis, a two-night visual art experience with projections and live music at the Lillis Business Complex.

A few of the more than 90 activities that took place also included

  • Mark Frohnmayer, founder and president of Eugene-based electric vehicle maker Arcimoto giving an address titled “From Startup To IPO"
  • Our own assistant professor of marketing Troy Campbell live podcasting from the event
  • Interactive panels
  • Om Your Quack (yoga for Ducks)
  • Talks about exciting new research on a breadth of topics including virtual reality and empathy, “fake news," preventing gun violence, and urbanism
  • An up-close look at the technology in the Price Science Library's DeArmond MakerSpace—which includes VR headsets, among other lab and area tours.

The summit was held during homecoming week, and UO President Michael Schill declared Oct. 27 UO Innovators" Day. The summit featured remarkable campus-wide participation as a result, with each and every college at the university represented in a panel, event, or activity, said Kate Harmon, instructor of business and undergraduate program manager for the UO's Lundquist Center for Entrepreneurship. The student-driven event was born out of Harmon's undergraduate entrepreneurship class, and Harmon and her team went above and beyond to inspire and bring innovators across campus together for the event.

The University of Oregon and Lundquist College of Business would like to thank Grant Inman and Bob Rode for their support of the summit.