Kevin Wiant, Executive Director, Venture Cafe Foundation / Roxbury Innovation Center
1. Why Boston?
Venture Cafe started in six years ago to connect the innovation community by managing spaces and programs for gatherings. Venture Cafe was awarded the opportunity to run the Roxbury Innovation Center by the City of Boston in 2015. The Roxbury Innovation Center is focused on local economic development in the Roxbury neighborhood.
2. What’s the one word to describe how people will feel after leaving your New Co session?
Connected
3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how weird are you and why?
Ten (assuming ten is the highest ranking)
4. What movie, no matter how many times you’ve seen it, do you have to watch when it’s on?
All episodes of Star Wars
5. What business would you love to start?
We are doing what we love to do now
6. What trophy do you want on your mantle?
No trophy, just the satisfaction of having created great new companies and jobs
7. In the past few months, what is the smallest change you made that had the biggest positive result?
Opening the Roxbury Innovation Center
8. If you could have a beer with anyone (dead or alive) who would it be?
Way too many options here, we operate as a team
9. Whats is your superpower?
Connecting others to create great companies
10. If you could sing one song on American Idol, what would it be?
You really don’t want to have me sing
11. If you were a box of cereal, what would you be and why?
Granola – lots of options, its crunchy, and diverse
About the Roxbury Innovation Center: The Roxbury Innovation Center is a civic experiment that will support local economic development by encouraging innovation and entrepreneurship. The Venture Café Foundation runs the Roxbury Innovation Center as a mission-driven not-for-profit gathering and event space. The space is positioned as a platform: a local space that will be available for many groups to provide programs that support innovators, entrepreneurs and business founders. In addition to working with many programming partners–like our flagship programming partner, SkyLab, with their Educate-Activate-Incubate bootcamp approach–Venture Café also produces programming to activate the space and connect the innovation economy.
Want to learn more? Visit Kevin and tour the Roxbury Innovation Center on April 27, 2016 during the NewCo Boston Festival of Innovation!
Session Time: 4:30 PM – 5:30 PM
Session Description: Learn how a neighborhood innovation center will help to increase local economic development in this Boston neighborhood with the highest unemployment rate.
