Great Lakes Ventures

Northwestern’s new Innovate for Climate course encourages climate-conscious entrepreneurship. Hayes Ferguson, director of the Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, co-taught Innovate for Climate with Ryan Jeffery, managing director for the sustainability program at the accelerator gener8tor, in collaboration with the NobleReach Foundation. Students Sam Rappin and William Kosann worked with Great Lakes St. Lawrence Governors & Premiers (GSGP) to promote awareness of fish byproduct underutilization. Student Sydney Williams and two of her classmates partnered with the Great Lakes Observing System and Ben Szczygiel, a specialist from Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, to launch a new buoy in Wilmette Harbor. The buoy will provide data that can be used to build a map of climate change effects on vulnerable Chicago-area communities.