STEAM Divas
June 19, 2026
Through their company, The Lab Drawer, scientists Alecia Gabriel and Deirdre Roberson are building new ways to make STEM & Arts excellence equitable and commonplace.
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Cities are humanity’s future. Today, more than half the world’s people live in an urban community, a figure projected to reach 70% by 2050. These dense, dynamic spaces serve as cradles of innovation, cultural exchange, and economic opportunity. Yet they also concentrate our greatest challenges: inequality, infrastructure strain, and environmental threats.
The Urban Entrepreneurship Initiative (UEI) supports a community of innovators and entrepreneurs who are dedicated to improving the quality of life in urban communities. Join us! Together we will build sustainable, scalable companies that do well by doing good.
Urban innovators strive to create lasting, positive community impact. They bring new ideas, insights, and technologies that can solve previously intractable, important problems.
What’s the dilemma?
Urban innovators and entrepreneurs often struggle to create business models that result in sustainable, economically thriving enterprises. In short, they find it difficult to achieve both lasting impact and financial success.
UEI Founder
The Urban Innovator Platform provides essential information, inspiration, and connections that unlock successful urban innovation. Building upon this platform, UEI members can effectively address tough urban challenges and make urban communities more vibrant, equitable, and resilient. They can create businesses that are both highly impactful and economically viable.
Years Championing Urban Entrepreneurship
Urban-Focused Ventures & Profiles
UEI Members and
Subscribers
Connecting innovators and cities across regions and sectors.
Proven business models for sustainable, scalable, urban-focused ventures.
Proposals for innovative ventures that address urban community needs.
Important problems that are ripe for solution by innovators and entrepreneurs.
Key sources of knowledge, in a variety of formats, aimed at informing and inspiring urban innovators and entrepreneurs.
Important events happening around the world where people are gathering to shape the future of urban communities.
Advice, connections, education, finance, and more.
Through their company, The Lab Drawer, scientists Alecia Gabriel and Deirdre Roberson are building new ways to make STEM & Arts excellence equitable and commonplace.
Bill Brinkerhoff and Kathy Sample are the co-founders of Argus Farm Stop, a pioneering local food business designed to strengthen regional farms while expanding community access to fresh, locally sourced food.
Lisa Prasad, Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at Henry Ford Health, shares her journey from consulting and academia to entrepreneurship and healthcare leadership.
What if we could point to any city and instantly surface its most pressing challenges? That is the challenge we put to some very talented University of Michigan School of Information (UMSI) students.
Join us for an engaging and interactive event designed for entrepreneurs and aspiring changemakers committed to improving quality of life in Detroit and other urban communities.
We need to have a difficult conversation about the word “good.” Somewhere along the way, between the rise of the robber barons
Have a question, idea, or project you’d like to discuss? Reach out and our team will get back to you with the next steps.
Your donation helps empower urban innovators and strengthens community-driven solutions.
