Episode 8: Innovation Hub – The Innovation Hub – Where Ideas Become Solutions (with Jason Lehmbeck and Kinsley Cuen)
As they prepare for their first Solutions Fair on May 22nd, 2025, Dr. Matt Biel speaks with Jason Lehmbeck and Kinsley Cuen from the Thrive Center’s Innovation Hub, exploring how the first cohort of innovators at the Hub benefited from building and learning with academic and clinical experts from Thrive.
The Innovation Hub, launched earlier this year, enables collaborative partnerships that bridge research and practice. Jason, as director, and Kinsley, as program manager, share insights from their first cohort’s journey and their vision for the upcoming focus on early childhood development.
Jason and Kinsley also describe the creative, “science fair-style” approach they’ve developed to showcase fellows’ work in an engaging format that facilitates meaningful connections with decision-makers and field leaders—moving beyond traditional presentation formats to interactive demonstrations that reflect the dynamic nature of their innovations.
Learn more about the Innovation Hub here: https://thrivecenter.georgetown.edu/innovation-hub-thrive-center/
For questions, comments, or ideas for future episodes, please email us at: thrivecenter@georgetown.edu
Summary:
Matt: One of things I you’ve been working on the most is the Solutions Fair that’s coming up May 22nd. I’m going to be there. What should I expect?
Kinsley: We’ve had 12 weeks with the fellows to watch them take these ideas or these goals they have and give them as many resources as we could and say, okay, see where you can go with this.
And this is the opportunity to see what that’s culminated into and to witness not only their years of hard work that they’ve put into their organizations, but also what they’ve been doing for the past few months with us…we’re thinking a bit of a science fair style. So walk around the room, get to have individual conversations, get to see what makes these organizations tick. And ideally have a really hands-on experience too of what they’re trying to address or what are things that they do as organizations that you can try out right there in the moment.
Jason: I think we’re going to have probably roughly a hundred people that are leaders across the country and within Thrive Center in child and family mental health and disability support who are eager to meet with these fellows to see their progress as Kinsley shared, but also look for new pathways to learn from each other and work with each other. So it’s a really beautiful kind of culmination moment for us with the fellows and Thrive Center, but also an opportunity to hopefully spark a further ability for these innovators to scale their work across the country.
Matt: Yeah, it sounds like you guys are creating a setup that’s going to be both collaborative and dynamic and also a little bit of a chance for the innovator and the cohort to show off. I love the science fair concept…in front of some real decision makers and national experts about the way that they’re taking on familiar problems in unfamiliar and new ways. So I think you’re going to get a really terrific response. I’m really looking forward to it.
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