President Destler Launches Innovation Festival

Written by William Robles on Sat 05/02/2009 at 11:16 am

Photo credit: Steve Pfost

Upon the arrival of the contestants of the Green Vehicle Contest, visitors gathered around the stage waiting for President William W. Destler’s opening ceremony. The event kicked off the second annual Imagine RIT innovation festival in the RIT Central area. Destler initiated the opening ceremony with several statistics that made the event come alive.

Approximately 500 volunteers are present today to help visitors enjoy their RIT innovation experience. Destler announced that there are 2,000 participating members with more than 400 exhibits and displays on-campus today. Employees, who normally have the day off today, also came to help make the event come together.

“I am grateful for the entire community for their incredible support for this event,” said Destler.

The Green Vehicle Contest Destler proposed at the beginning of this year has come to an end. Due to the number of exceptional entries, there were two winners instead of one. FMS and the Sims group both shared the prize of Destler’s antique banjo, made by William Karnolt in 1890 and $1,000.

The Rochester General Health System partnered with RIT to make the innovation happen. The event acquired more than 50 sponsors, which include Kodak, Xerox, and Paychex. Among the sponsors there are over 30 trustees involved as well.

RIT is unique, in that it is the only college in the nation to host an event supporting innovation, creativity, and entrepreneurship. “The best is to come,” a Rochester General Hospital representative said about the innovation festival and creativity.

Destler concluded the morning kickoff with a soft, yet powerful theme song, sang by three vocalists. The theme song “Can you Imagine?” was specifically written for this special event.