Darden Unveils New Innovation Laboratory

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., March 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Darden School of Business and the Batten Institute on March 19 will showcase Darden's new innovation laboratory, or i.Lab, a state-of-the-art learning environment that inspires a new approach to teaching innovation and entrepreneurship. Darden's i.Lab complements a robust, design-intensive curriculum for innovation now offered in Darden's top-ranked MBA program.

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The March 19 opening event will include a ribbon-cutting ceremony followed by remarks from New York Times bestselling-author Daniel Pink, an influential thinker who has written extensively about the "rise of right-brain thinking in modern economies."

"Darden's new i.Lab is a physical manifestation of leading scholarship on innovation that has emerged from the Batten Institute and the Darden School over the past several years," said Elizabeth O'Halloran, Managing Director, Batten Institute. "In contrast to many traditional business-school offerings, the i.Lab provides experiential, team-based and collaborative learning opportunities, such as a design-based studio where students can transform concepts and ideas into physical prototypes. In these challenging economic times, the i.Lab makes possible an effectual, multi-disciplinary approach to entrepreneurship and innovation, providing students a powerful and relevant skill set to succeed and excel in today's global marketplace."

About the i.Lab

The Innovation Lab, or "i.Lab," at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business, is a unique physical learning environment rooted in multidisciplinary thinking and informed by ethnographic, anthropological, and other methodologies traditionally used in the social sciences. Its structure allows faculty to engage students around core skills essential to innovative business thinkers, and it serves as a physical complement to a new academic discipline offered at Darden around learning rooted in innovation-intensive design. The i.Lab is not case-based but experiential, team-based and collaborative and serves as a complement to traditional tiered, four-walled business-school classrooms. The i.Lab was completed with the generous support of Darden's Batten Institute, a center for research and teaching dedicated to advancing knowledge about entrepreneurship and innovation.

About the Batten Institute

The Batten Institute at the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business is an academic research center dedicated to advancing knowledge about entrepreneurship and innovation.  Modeled after the world's leading research organizations, the Institute generates high-impact and practical insights for both scholars and managers about entrepreneurial phenomena. To achieve this objective, the Institute provides funding and other support for faculty research, research fellows, research assistants, and a wide array of outreach and publishing activities. For more information about The Batten Institute, go to http://www.batteninstitute.org/index.php.

About the Darden School of Business

Founded in 1954, the University of Virginia's Darden School of Business improves society by developing principled leaders in the world of practical affairs. For questions or information, contact [email protected].  

SOURCE Batten Institute