da Vinci Center News

“’We’re prototyping the future of higher education.’ That is how Lloyd Young, director of innovation and design at VCU da Vinci Center for Innovation, describes what she and her colleagues do every day at the Shift Retail Lab. Their work is turning heads, not just in Richmond, but nationwide. Shift was named the winner of the Learning […]

da Vinci Center is proud to say that we are among the 50 plus universities pioneering the future of the classroom with Podium. “This summer, Podium piloted the program for over a thousand students. At Virginia Commonwealth University, the school planned to include a dozen students. But, according to Garret Westlake, associate vice provost for innovation […]

“Trinity Rucker is serving as innovator-in-residence in OVPRI, where she wants art to spur collaboration.” Learn more>>

Virginia Commonwealth University reimagines entrepreneurship training with its Shift Retail Lab, a winner of 2023’s Innovation By Design Awards. “The Shift Retail Lab—winner of the Learning category in Fast Company’s 2023 Innovation By Design Awards—is a real-world space for students to peddle their wares and collect feedback from would-be customers and is Westlake’s answer to that. Since […]

“APLU also highlighted VCU’s da Vinci Center for its work to increase the representation of women and underrepresented minorities in the innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. It noted that da Vinci pairs cross-disciplinary student teams with industry partners to solve real-world problems; the center launched the Entrepreneurship Academy with local partners and awarded 1,830 innovation micro-credentials […]

“Jacked!, a Richmond company that makes jackfruit jerky, is in the running for an accelerator program from Whole Foods Market. “We are waiting to hear back,” said founder Julien Reininger. “We are in the semifinals right now. If we make it to the finals, we get to go into a pitch competition.”” Learn more>>

“With support from Capital One, the da Vinci Center for Innovation delivers the platform for the pitch.” “This year’s event featured four sessions with 16 teams pitching ideas or current ventures to a panel of judges from the da Vinci Center’s community partners and alums. “The pitches were not only innovative and inspiring but also […]

After getting a taste of VCU in high school, fashion major nurtured her passion and summoned pandemic-era perseverance to reach the big city, starting with New York Fashion Week. “She also cited the impact of Charles Ajemian, a Richmond-area innovation technologist who taught her Conscious Capitalism course at the da Vinci Center. Woods said she […]

“Design thinking combines what is desirable, from a human point of view, with what is technologically feasible and economically viable, according to IDEO, a global design company. Many business leaders adopt design thinking as a common-sense approach to solving complex problems.” Learn more>>

“The Virginia Commonwealth University da Vinci Center for Innovation is bringing to VCU the LEGO Serious Play method, a process that combines specific teaching principles, professional development and a specially formulated set of LEGO bricks to create a hands-on learning environment where participants can facilitate a deeper dialogue around problem-solving and design thinking in the […]