St. Louis County Executive Sam Page (left) presents a proclamation recognizing Missouri Innovation Week to Mike Seper, director of innovation and intellectual property at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, alongside UMSL Provost Steven Berberich. The inaugural event, held Oct. 13-15, brings students, educators, entrepreneurs and community leaders together for hands-on experiences with emerging technologies, including artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality. (Photo courtesy of Mike Seper)
Before there is an idea, there has to be a spark. Mike Seper is hopeful that he can help provide that spark for area students.
Seper, the director of innovation and intellectual property at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, recently announced the launch of Missouri Innovation Week, a statewide initiative held Oct. 13-15 that will bring together middle school, high school and college students along with educators, entrepreneurs, business and civic leaders to explore emerging technologies and the possibilities they create. Through exhibits, demonstrations and a hackathon, the inaugural event aims to give participants an opportunity to experiment with technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics and virtual reality while opening their eyes to future educational and career pathways.
“I had a lot of people that believed in me when I was young, before I believed in myself,” Seper said. “Now it’s my turn to pay that opportunity forward to the next generation.”
For Seper, that means introducing students to innovation before an idea has even taken hold.
Missouri Innovation Week is designed to help students of different ages see how recent advancements in technology can be applied to real-world challenges and give them a chance to discover what piques their interest. They can build something, participate in science experiments, learn about the ways technology is being used in different industries or take part in a hackathon focused on solving actual community problems.
“Students have better tools than any of us ever had,” Seper said. “So, let’s teach them how to use those tools and how they can be on a good path that helps for workforce development and positions our region for long-term success.”
That hands-on approach is central to the event, which opens with the Innovate USA Summit and Expo on Day One at the Post Building in downtown St. Louis.
The morning program will begin with a keynote from St. Louis entrepreneur Jesse Pujji, who is launching a fellowship focused on helping entrepreneurs build businesses using AI tools without relying heavily on outside investment. The summit will also feature the first public presentation of the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center, with representatives from World Wide Technology, Amazon Web Services, Google, Nvidia, Overture Maps Foundation, WEKA and other technology leaders discussing efforts to expand access to AI and its applications across the region.
At noon, the Innovation Expo will open in locations throughout the Post Building, with activities in Press Hall that feature interactive industry exhibits, science experiments and technology demonstrations. Students can also participate in AI training on the building’s first floor, while the lower level will become a robotics playground featuring demonstrations from the Robotics Education & Competition Foundation and the UMSL School of Engineering. Other exhibits will give students opportunities to explore virtual reality, learn about construction concepts and get introduced to geospatial technology and its real-world applications.
Seper is particularly excited about the robotics area, which will be accessible by a slide built from a former newspaper conveyor belt in the Post Building. He hopes the unique entrance and surrounding demonstrations will create a memorable experience that captures students’ imaginations.
“This offers the students real ways that they can have a tactile approach to learning,” Seper said. “It just opens up their view of science and technology.”
It also offers UMSL’s engineering faculty the opportunity to display its wares for potential industry partners and future Tritons.
“We want the greater St. Louis community to know that UMSL is offering excellent educational and research opportunities,” said Xin Wang, professor and program coordinator for electrical engineering at UMSL. “We’re teaching great things and conducting outstanding research, bringing engineering concepts to life and showing people what UMSL can offer and how we’re leading the field.”
The first day’s activities will continue with the start of a free 33.5-hour AI hackathon, which will run through Thursday evening and is open to anyone interested in participating. Teams will gather at T-REX in downtown St. Louis before continuing their work virtually, using AI tools to develop solutions to challenges presented by city leaders and other community partners. Participants can also identify problems in their communities and build solutions of their own, with the goal of creating something that can have a positive impact across St. Louis and Missouri. There will also be a virtual hackathon option, allowing teams to participate from anywhere in the United States.
“We want to inspire young builders to identify problems and be empowered to create solutions,” Seper said. “We have K-12, university and community divisions available. Everyone is welcome to build and code a stronger community.”
An invite-only reception recognizing the next generation of innovators will be held Oct. 14 at the Saint Louis Science Center. The evening’s events will include an “I Am St. Louis” presentation from the Missouri Historical Society as well as an additional custom presentation on the James S. McDonnell Planetarium dome, followed by a Champions of Innovation Awards presentation. The hackathon will end during a “Robotics and AI Innovation Celebration” scheduled for the final night of the multiday event.
With the emphasis on applied learning and connection to regional business leaders, Ekin Pellegrini saw a natural connection between Missouri Innovation Week and UMSL’s Doctor of Business Administration program, which is co-sponsoring the event.
Pellegrini, associate dean for graduate business programs in the Ed G. Smith College of Business and founding director of the DBA program, was introduced to Seper’s plans while he was applying to the program. She immediately recognized how the event’s focus on emerging technologies aligned with the DBA’s approach to learning, which brings experienced business professionals into an applied research environment focused on solving real-world problems.
“As he started talking about the event, I was really impressed, and I thought, ‘Well, the DBA candidates are experienced executives, they’re founders, they’re senior managers who want to solve real organizational challenges,’ and that’s exactly who this conference draws: entrepreneurs, corporate innovation leaders, economic developers, investors,” Pellegrini said. “I always want to increase the visibility of this program in Missouri’s business community because the program engages in applied research, and we’re going to solve the region’s problems, so it was just a win-win for us. This is our target audience, and the sponsorship builds our credibility within that target market.”
For UMSL, the target market will come from one of the many regional school districts that Seper said have verbally committed to send students to the event. Seper expects to draw several hundred attendees, many of whom are unsure about their future educational path.
“We want to retain that great talent here in the region,” said Seper, who noted that several other area colleges and universities have partnered for the event. “If students are in middle school or high school and haven’t chosen a university yet, this is an opportunity to get in front of them and show them what UMSL has to offer.”
Seper hopes Missouri Innovation Week will become an annual event that grows beyond its St. Louis roots. By bringing communities together under a statewide banner, he envisions other cities around the state eventually hosting their own Innovation Week activities and contributing to a larger network focused on exposing students and educators to a future without limits.
“When people see that the impossible has been done before,” Seper said, “it opens the aperture and takes some barriers off to say, ‘Well, it hadn’t been done, but maybe I’ll be the first.’”
Tickets to the event are free for UMSL students. More information can be found here.
