Nurturing Innovation at the Branam Innovation Center

The Branam Innovation Center (BIC) is a collaborative project space where students work on competition team projects involving the latest technology and real world problem solving.  The center is 16,000 sq ft under one roof and houses eight student competition teams with over 200 students in total involved across all the teams.  The center has been named for our former President Matt Branam who was a strong supporter of innovation programs on campus and championed the building of the center in the summer of 2011.

 

The format for most teams and competitions is the same.  The teams form in the fall at the start of school under the supervision of a faculty adviser.  They develop their vehicle or solution for a competition that happens in May or June and the cycle repeats each year.  The project work is inherently multidisciplinary and involves students from freshman to senior.  Rose-Hulman teams have been remarkably successful and our teams have competed in locations as close as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway or at venues across the country.

At the grand opening in 2011, Trustee David Hannum humorously referred to the center as a ‘garage’ and that cool things happen in a garage.  He was right about cool things happening in the building but there is more to it than just the space.  What makes a garage an ‘innovation center’?

The themes of the practice of innovation are collaboration, teamwork, applying the latest technology, prototyping, and speed of development.  The center has been developed and operated with these themes in mind.  First, the building was designed in an open concept with no walls between teams. The only separation between them is a tape line on the floor.  The competitions themselves encourage application of the latest technology.  Activities in the innovation center are team based and the open design fosters excitement and interaction between teams.  Speed of prototyping and development is encouraged by having resources available here for students to rapidly build and test ideas.   There are meeting areas, a small machine shop, welding room, and teams have resources at hand for their project work.

Through these competition team experiences, students apply their technical skills and learn teamwork, communication, project management, and solving complex problems involving technology, budget, and schedule constraints.  These are great professional practice experiences for students and are highly valuable during the job search process.

Another important theme of innovation is that ‘anyone can play’ - being innovative does not take a big capital investment or years of experience.  A garage can become an effective innovation center and has at our Branam Innovation Center.