Save The Date!
The 2025 UWM Design Open and Innovators Expo will be held on May 2, 2025 from NOON – 6 PM.
All applications to participate in the Innovators Expo as an innovator are due April 13th, 2025.
Reminisce on Last Year’s Expo
UWM’s largest celebration of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Celebrating UWM’s Innovators
The UWM Innovators Expo is an annual celebration of innovation and entrepreneurship that showcases a collection of UWM community prototypes, ideas, startups, student orgs, partners, classes, and innovations in an exhibit format. This is an opportunity for participants to showcase their progress and hard work that has been made over the past year.
The Innovators Expo is an electric event with attendees ranging from campus leadership, faculty and staff, UWM donors, family and friends, and Milwaukee community members. This year, the Lubar Entrepreneurship Center is bringing back a “Design Open” portion where presenters will deliver topic-based workshops on a variety of subjects. Previous workshops from 2024 included such as health design, team collaboration, and others. 2025 will also see the return of a roundtable discussion centering on the theme of “navigating ambiguity”.
The 2025 UWM Design Open & Innovators Expo will be held in person on May 2, 2025. Applications to participate in the Innovators Expo as an innovator are due April 13th, 2025. Click the link on the right-hand side of the page to register as an innovator or as a general attendee. Registration for Design Open workshops is separate and has not yet opened.
2025 UWM Design Open & Innovators Expo Format
- 11:00am – 12:00pm Coffee & Networking (soft-launch)
- 12:00pm – 2:15pm Design Open Workshops
- 2:30pm – 3:15pm Kickoff & Design Open Roundtable Discussion
- 3:30pm – 5:30pm Innovators Expo
2025 Theme: Navigating Ambiguity
How to innovate in an increasingly ambiguous and uncertain world?
The future is full of ambiguity. What is unknown can often be scary, daunting. Ambiguity is full of grey areas, of fog, of difficulty seeing a clear path ahead. What ambiguity does represent is change – a point of inflection, of transformation, of fundamental shifts in what ‘is.’ Change is a constant thing. It is never-ending, always happening. Change can be physical: from us, our health, the places we live, the environment around us. Change can be internal: mental, emotional, spiritual. Change can be societal: culture, politics, institutions, in how we interact with one another. Change in the circumstances we find ourselves in, be it financial, career, education, in life is nonstop. How does one navigate ambiguity when it seems like the pace of change never slows down? How do we make sense of where we are going when so much is uncertain?
To share in community, relish in ambiguity, and explore potential answers to questions like these, come to the 2025 UWM Design Open and Innovators Expo. The UWM Innovators Expo is UWM’s largest celebration of interdisciplinary innovation – from business, engineering, health, the arts, and so much more. Come to learn how everyday innovators at UWM are navigating our changing world and hoping to make it a better place.
Design Open Workshop Sessions
New to this event in 2024 was the component of a Design Open series of several concurrent workshops where attendees explored different topics. This year the Design Open returns with a new set of expanded workshops on topics ranging from design, entrepreneurial thinking, and innovation contextualized by this year’s theme of “navigating ambiguity.”. Workshop submissions are currently open. We will publish a list of workshops to attend in early April – space is limited and registration will be capped for each session, so keep an eye out!
Design Open Roundtable Discussion
The Design Open Roundtable Discussion is center on this year’s theme. Join us in the American Family Insurance Dream Studio as we explore how innovators from diverse professional and personal backgrounds navigate ambiguity in their own lives and strategies they employ to view ambiguity differently. Register to attend the discussion in the “General Attendance” form on the right-hand side of the page!
Innovators Expo
After a brief program and remarks join us for appetizers and refreshments in the Nicholas Innovation Commons and interact with UWM innovators – students, faculty, staff, alumni – navigating ambiguity in their lives by pursuing their passions and making a difference. Network, eat, drink, and discover how innovation cuts across all academic disciplines! Register to attend in the “General Attendance” form on the right-hand side of the page.
