{"id":29337,"date":"2026-04-09T09:04:47","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/?p=29337"},"modified":"2026-04-07T12:42:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:42:58","slug":"catalyze-innovation-conference-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/2026\/04\/catalyze-innovation-conference-2026\/","title":{"rendered":"Marshall to host Catalyze Marshall, a World Creativity and Innovation Week event April 20"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>Marshall University will host Catalyze Marshall, an interactive event designed to inspire innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurial thinking across campus and the region, on April 20. \u00a0The day-long event takes place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center as part of World Creativity and Innovation Week.<\/p>\n<p>Developed by faculty and staff across Marshall University\u2019s entrepreneurial ecosystem \u2014 including the College of Arts and Media, the College of Science, the Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine, the Marshall University Technology Transfer Office and Marshall University Research Corp. \u2014 the event will bring together students, faculty, staff, creatives, entrepreneurs and community members. Attendees will celebrate past and current innovative collaborations and explore creative problem-solving techniques, intellectual property protection and new venture development.<\/p>\n<p>Catalyze Marshall reflects the university\u2019s commitment to fostering innovation and economic growth throughout West Virginia and the Appalachian region. Through networking opportunities, guided programming and hands-on activities, participants will engage in design thinking and ideation processes addressing real-world challenges, led by Marshall\u2019s iCenter and its medical innovation partner, Intermed Labs.<\/p>\n<p>The event will feature keynote speaker Brian Joseph, president and CEO of Touchstone Research Laboratory. Widely recognized as West Virginia\u2019s \u201cmodern-day Edison,\u201d Joseph holds more than 30 patents and has launched multiple companies rooted in advanced research and technology.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCatalyze Marshall reflects the very best of who we are, a community united by purpose, collaboration and a drive to innovate,\u201d said Marshall University President Brad D. Smith. \u201cWhen we bring together diverse perspectives and empower our students, faculty and partners with the space and support to connect, we don\u2019t just share ideas, we create momentum for solutions that can truly make a difference.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The event will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" value=\"1\">Collaborative design-thinking sessions<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" value=\"2\">Opportunities to connect with innovators and mentors<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" value=\"3\">Exposure to entrepreneurial tools and resources and<\/li>\n<li dir=\"ltr\" value=\"4\">Cross-disciplinary engagement with Marshall\u2019s innovation ecosystem.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p dir=\"ltr\">Catalyze Marshall is open to students, faculty, staff and community members. The event is free, but registration is required as space is limited. Lunch will be provided.<\/p>\n<p>Sponsors include Stites &amp; Harbison PLLC, Quality Insights ThinkSpace, Marshall University Research Corp. and the Marshall Advanced Manufacturing Center.<\/p>\n<p>For more information or to register, visit <a dir=\"ltr\" href=\"https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/catalyzemarshall\">https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/catalyzemarshall<\/a>.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marshall University will host Catalyze Marshall, an interactive event designed to inspire innovation, collaboration and entrepreneurial thinking across campus and the region, on April 20. \u00a0The day-long event takes place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in the Don Morris Room of the Memorial Student Center as part of World Creativity and Innovation Week. Developed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":945,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,26],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-murc","category-news-releases"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/945"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29339,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29337\/revisions\/29339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.marshall.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}