Madison Whittle was the first Western Kentucky University graduate whose degree read “user experience.” Whittle graduated in May and, with some help from her “Civic Imagination Team,” used her skills to put together Muser — an app that tracks willing museum attendees to map how they move about exhibits…She works as a freelance website designer and as a user experience designer at Metals Innovation Initiative at WKU’s Innovation Campus.

A Kentucky nonprofit is trying to attract new talent to the metals industry. The “Metals Innovation Initiative,” also known as MI2, held an annual conference at the Louisville Marriott East in Jeffersontown.

Roughly a year ago, the Kentucky-based Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2) formed, so the two-day “Factory of the Future” Conference that took place in Louisville on Sept. 5-6 served partly as a one-year anniversary of its formation — a platform for its future.

Vijay Kamineni serves as both the CEO of MI2 as well as the chief innovation and technology leader for Logan Aluminum, one of the founding members of MI2, based south of Lewisburg, Kentucky. Logan produces close to half the aluminum cans that will be used in the U.S. in a given year. Kamineni said that since Kentucky is the fourth largest metal manufacturing state, there is great potential for research and innovation through MI2.

The proposed Generating Advanced Manufacturing Excellence with Technology and Innovation for Metals of Essential Products (GAME TIME) Tech Hub brings together public-private partners…The consortium is led by the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation and includes the Kentucky Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2), University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, Kentucky State University, Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, Kentucky Association of Manufacturers, Kentuckiana Works, Oak Ridge Associated Universities, Kentucky Community and Technical College System, Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, Louisville Metro Government, City of Frankfort, LIFT and Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing (ARM) Institute.

The Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2) is proud to announce its inaugural Metals Innovation Search 2023 competition. MI2 is casting a wide net, calling on pioneers from all corners of the United States to bring forth innovations that can significantly enhance the metals industry, not only in Kentucky but globally.

The Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2), Bowling Green, Kentucky, has announced its inaugural Metals Innovation Search 2023 competition. The organization says it is casting a wide net, calling on entrants from all corners of the U.S. to bring forth innovations that can significantly enhance the metals industry locally and globally.

In preparation for its inaugural “The Factory of the Future” Conference coming to Louisville in September, the Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2) has put forth a national call for innovations related to the metals industry — both locally and globally, according to a news release.

One of those nonprofits is the Metals Innovation Initiative, formed in September 2022 aimed at bringing stakeholders together to make Kentucky the destination for metals innovation and for which Logan Aluminum is a founding member.

Logan Aluminum was selected for this award based on its nonprofit support, sponsorship of cultural events in the region and high level of involvement in the launch of two new statewide nonprofit organizations headquartered at the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus…One of the nonprofits is the Metals Innovation Initiative.

Today, Gov. Beshear announced a team of Kentucky public and private workforce development partner is one of 16 groups selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Labor’s Job Quality Academy in 2023. Designed and operated in partnership with Jobs for the Future and other national partners, the Academy provides a unique opportunity to help the workforce system focus on enhancing good jobs and opportunities for workers.

On Tuesday, April 11th, Logan Aluminum President and Metals Innovation Initiative Board Member Mike Buckentin was one of the featured speakers at the Kentucky Innovator Challenge. The event was hosted by UK Innovate, the innovation, entrepreneurship and economic enterprise for University of Kentucky Research. President Buckentin, shared MI2’s vision and the challenges to drive innovation in the metals industry.

As an important link between WKU and regional businesses, the Innovation Campus continues its work to develop a talent pipeline for the region’s growing technology, manufacturing, automotive and logistics industries while reinforcing Bowling Green’s position as the connective tissue between Louisville and Nashville. Businesses and organizations, such as…the Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2)…established a presence at our Innovation Campus during the past two years.

Through the initiative, Kamineni said he hopes more people, both in and outside of Kentucky, begin to associate the state’s thriving metals industry with Kentucky’s economic identity…“We have a great story to tell,” Kamineni said. “…But we can’t make change happen if we’re not working together.”

The Metals Innovation Initiative, or MI2, is an example of the collaborative environment that Team Kentucky and KY Innovation work hard to build and maintain. This new initiative is a coalition of metal industry executives collaborating to make Kentucky the preeminent destination for metals innovation. The organization, launched in 2022, was founded by companies in aluminum, stainless steel, and copper.

The inaugural session was hosted at University of Louisville Innovation Center downtown and featured presentations from GLI leadership, the University of Louisville’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, and the World Trade Center. The second session will focus on the region’s bourbon industry and will be hosted at Brown-Forman. Participants selected for the first cohort include(s)…Venkata (Vijay) Kamineni, chief executive officer, Metals Innovation Initiative.

In the short time that it has been open, the WKU Collaborative SmartSpace is already home to a USC Civic Imagination Incubator, an MIT Open Documentary Lab, a Workforce Participation innovation lab, a recycling consortium that is forming, and meetings of the newly formed Metals Innovation Initiative, not to mention teams from companies like Logan Aluminum and Envision and various start-ups and solopreneurs.

Innovation is a significant driver of Kentucky’s current economic success, including the state’s significant investments in electric-vehicle manufacturing, agriculture technology, metals innovation and more. These growing industries are built on the same three pillars seen in every innovative business: research-driven products and/or services, access to capital and talent.

It’s home to creative companies and organizations like the technology-heavy Eyeconic and the Metals Innovation Initiative, and yet the cutting-edge work at Western Kentucky University’s Innovation Campus on Nashville Road is largely going unnoticed by locals. That could soon be changing.

KTW’s other new Innovation Campus neighbors include a variety of innovative companies and entities from the region, like global manufacturers Holley Inc., Logan Aluminum, and Envision AESC, and the new Metals Innovation Initiative, which is working to promote Kentucky as the preeminent destination for metals innovation.

The University of Kentucky is a strategic partner in a new nonprofit to foster innovation in Kentucky’s expanding metals industry…“We see MI2 as a real win for Kentucky and one of our top industries in the Commonwealth,” said Landon Borders, executive director of UK Innovation Connect.

Bourbon horses and … metal fabrication? If a newly formed nonprofit organization based in Bowling Green meets its goals the Bluegrass State will soon be associated as closely with steel and aluminum as it now is with thoroughbreds and sipping whiskey.

The Innovation Campus’ goal is to provide an environment where subject matter experts and corporate partners collaborate with faculty, staff, and students to solve problems and create opportunities and jobs for this region,” said Buddy Steen, CEO of the Innovation Campus at WKU and Programs Director for CREATE. “MI2 is exactly the kind of mission-aligned, industry-led innovation organization that we want to support.

A new Center for Organizational Readiness toward Enterprise (CORE) 4.0 has been launched at Speed School of Engineering, focused on helping companies prepare for smart and connected technology such as automation, artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things. The center draws on the combined research strength of the UofL’s LoDI and the Office of Research and Innovation, with the industry expertise of the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council and the Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2).

A first focus of of AccelerateKY is helping get a new organization called the Metals Innovation Initiative off the ground, aimed at fostering further innovation in Kentucky’s fast-growing metals industry in areas like sustainability, talent attraction and development, R&D projects, grant funding, and industry connections with the entrepreneurial ecosystem.

A number of research initiatives are underway at WKU’s Innovation Campus, including collaborative work with Holley Performance Products, Louisville-based non-profit Kentucky to the World, and the Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2), which provides collaborative and sustainable executive leadership to attract and promote advanced research, commercialization, and talent development in Kentucky’s metals industry.

The center draws on the combined research strength of the UofL’s LoDI and the Office of Research and Innovation, with the industry expertise of the Louisville Healthcare CEO Council and the Metals Innovation Initiative (MI2).

CORE4.0 will engage three industry sectors including manufacturing, logistics and healthcare, through partnership with Western Kentucky University, Metals Innovation Initiative (Mi2) and Louisville Healthcare CEO Council.

Metals executive Vijay Kamineni is joined by Kentucky entrepreneur Rusty Justice and University of Kentucky’s Dr. Alison Davis to talk about the importance of investing in the innovation ecosystem of Kentucky, their experiences on the Kentucky team that went through the MIT Regional Entrepreneurship Acceleration Program, and their involvement in the formation of the nonprofit AccelerateKY.

Metals executive Vijay Kamineni talks about the importance of corporate engagement in the Kentucky innovation ecosystem and AccelerateKY’s work in pursuing a new initiative on innovation in the metals industry.