Creative Alliance Milwaukee and The Greater Milwaukee Committee’s Innovation in Milwaukee (MiKE) have announced they will combine their annual innovation events into a new annual conference focusing on creativity and innovation, which will be held on Wednesday, Oct. 7.
CAM has hosted the creativeMilwaukee@work Summit, which focuses on creative problem solving, since 2012. MiKE has hosted Flying Car, a showcase of emerging Milwaukee-area innovation and technology talent previously known as Innovation Week, since 2012. Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak keynoted Flying Car last year. The organizations plan to integrate the best parts of each event into a more all-encompassing program.
The new conference, which does not yet have a name, will be aimed at creatives in all industries, those in human resources and talent acquisition, corporate leaders, small business owners and STEM professionals. The conference will have an option to focus on different tracks related to industry, occupation or experience level.
CAM and MiKE, in cooperation with experience design firm Translator, will host three community input sessions to gather input about what the conference should be called and what kind of programming it should include, after which additional details about the conference will be released.
“The link between creativity and innovation is inseparable, and both MiKE’s and CAM’s leadership determined that a combined annual event could greatly benefit our Milwaukee community and form lasting connections,” said GMC president Julia Taylor. “An event of this scale helps us to attract and retain key talent in our city, and to develop that talent right here at home.”
“It is especially important at this time of tremendous potential for the Milwaukee 7 region in manufacturing, STEM and beyond to understand the intersection of the creative and innovative realms,” said CAM president and chief executive officer Maggie Kuhn Jacobus. “Taking advantage of this can provide a competitive edge to our region to foster Milwaukee as a powerhouse for generations to come.”
