Keystone Innovation District

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Keystone Innovation District

The Keystone Innovation District is Kansas City’s front door for innovation.

It will be a welcoming environment for all to participate in and generate forward-thinking ideas.

06/01/2026

This week at Keystone Sessions, we’re doing something different.

No speakers. No panels. Just Kansas City’s innovation community coming together to celebrate the people who’ve been doing the work.

The third annual Keystone Awards — twenty-four finalists, six categories, and a space-themed night honoring the founders, operators, and ecosystem builders shaping Kansas City’s future.

Come be in the room.

June 3 | Doors at 5:30 PM | Keystone CoLAB

Register Here: https://keynect.ai/e/keystone-awards-2026

05/29/2026

Voting is closed. The winners have been decided.

Over 500 ballots were cast across six categories. Twenty-four nominees. The Kansas City community showed up, made their nominations, rallied their networks, and cast their votes for the people and organizations driving this ecosystem forward.

Now there’s only one way to find out who takes the stage — be in the room on June 3rd.

The 3rd Annual Keystone Awards is more than an announcement. It’s a night to celebrate every nominee, every builder, and every organization making a real impact on this city. Whether you voted, nominated someone, or just want to be part of the moment — this is the room to be in.

Wednesday, June 3rd | 5:30 PM | Keystone CoLAB

Seats are filling up. Don’t miss the reveal.

Register Here: https://keynect.ai/e/keystone-awards-2026

05/18/2026

What happens when entrepreneurs reimagine the systems we take for granted?

This week at Keystone Sessions — Wednesday, May 20 — three builders bring three different answers.

5:00 PM | Disrupt Advertising One Hunt at a Time Kamia Kindle, founder of Soda Hunt, on rewriting local advertising with gamification — built right here in KC.

6:00 PM | Electric Renaissance: One Actor, One Musician, One Movement The Coterie Theatre previews their newest production ahead of its opening at the American Jazz Museum on May 27.

7:00 PM | Start Smart with AI: Without the Hype, Hustle, or Headaches Maliha Khan of Khanect the Dots on how to make AI actually sound like your brand.

Doors open at 4:30 PM. Whether you work in marketing, the arts, local business, or just want a night at the intersection of innovation and culture — this one’s for you.

RSVP at the link in bio.

05/14/2026

Kansas is drilling a mile into the earth and it might be among the most consequential things happening in American energy right now.

Last night, we sat down with Jason Pottorf of Deep Fission and Dr. Amir Bahadori of Kansas State University for a live episode of The Disruption Lab, dropping soon wherever you listen.

The question on the table: is this the real nuclear renaissance, or another false start?

The answer wasn’t about technology. It was about demand and whether it had finally arrived in a form strong enough to pull the rest of the system with it.

AI and data centers have created a category of electricity load that isn’t going away. Innovation rarely fails because the technology was wrong. It fails because the surrounding system, capital, regulation, fuel supply, workforce, can’t absorb it. Nuclear’s sixty-year history is a case study in that pattern. What’s different now is that the demand is finally bigger than the friction.

The specifics were hard to ignore. Deep Fission is drilling a mile-deep borehole in Parsons, Kansas — the first step toward a Gravity Reactor design that places a 15-megawatt reactor underground and uses a mile-tall column of water as its passive safety system. K-State is projecting 110–130 students in its revived nuclear engineering program this fall, up from three a year ago. The sector needs 375,000 more workers by 2050.

The corridor from Kansas City to Manhattan to Parsons is becoming the place where that workforce gets built.

When demand finally arrives for a category that’s been waiting on it, the question isn’t whether the technology is ready. It’s whether the system around it is.

05/11/2026

This Wednesday at Keystone Sessions

Three conversations Kansas City needs right now — local to global, all in one night.

5 PM | Mental Health Policy in KC Mayor Pro Tem Ryana Parks-Shaw, Swope Health, and University Health on who actually gets care.
6 PM | The Nuclear Comeback Deep Fission and K-State on small modular reactors and the energy demands of AI.
7 PM | Global Perspectives on Entrepreneurship International founders from 15 countries, in partnership with Global Ties KC.

Doors at 4:30 PM. RSVP at the link in bio.

05/08/2026

The nominees are in. The votes are yours.

We asked the Kansas City community to tell us who’s driving innovation forward — and the response was so strong we expanded to four finalists in every category. Meet your 2026 Keystone Awards nominees:

Entrepreneur of the Year:
Donnie Hampton · Emily Brown · Dan Carroll, The & Company · Kieri Olmstead

Scale-Up Award:
Invary · LODAS Markets · CarePilot · KC Pioneers

Most Innovative Product or Service:
ReBulk (formerly dscribe.ai) · EnduraLock · Authentiya · TrusLabs.ai

Social Impact Award:
Father Justin Mathews · Global Ties KC · Besty BnB · Natalie Lewis, GJKC

Enterprise Innovation Award:
Black & Veatch · Polsinelli — Greg Kratofil · Google · Burns & McDonnell

Access to Capital Award:
MTC Idea Fund · Oread Angel Investors · Digital Sandbox KC · KS Commerce — ACCEL KS

These are the founders, operators, and organizations shaping what Kansas City’s innovation ecosystem looks like right now. Voting is open through May 22nd — make your voice heard.

Awards Night: June 3rd at 5:30 PM at Keystone CoLAB

Congratulations to every nominee. Kansas City sees the work you’re doing.  Register and vote in our bio!

04/28/2026

What does it take to move an idea from a research lab into a business? And what does it look like when founders build companies designed to solve a city’s hardest problems?

You’ll see the answer to both this Wednesday at Keystone Sessions.

5:00 PM | Meet the 2026 Social Venture Studio Cohort A front-row look at the founders shaping a more inclusive, sustainable Kansas City — entrepreneurs using business as a force for good and tackling KC’s most urgent challenges head-on.

6:00 PM | From Research to Reality Dr. Amber Rowland (Associate Research Professor, KU) sits down with CEO Paul Epp for a fireside on VOISS — the AI-powered XR platform helping young people practice the social skills they need to navigate real life. They’ll unpack what it actually takes to move from peer-reviewed research to a working product in schools.

Doors open at 4:30. More programming dropping tomorrow!

RSVP → https://keynect.ai/e/keystone-sessions-april-29th

Bring a colleague who works in edtech, youth development, or social impact — they’ll thank you.

04/06/2026

AI is rewriting the rules of ownership. A former legislator who walked away from his Senate seat to go all-in on Missouri’s startup ecosystem. And our public health systems are overdue for a real conversation.

All three topics. One Wednesday. Keystone CoLAB.

5 PM — IP & AI with patent attorney Thomas B. Luebbering
6 PM — Travis Fitzwater on leading Missouri Technology Corporation through $95M in deployment and a mandate to prove state venture investment works
7 PM — Policy, Power & Progress: Public Health — a civic dialogue on equity, collaboration, and what comes next

April 8. Come for one. Stay for all three.

Register & read more → https://keynect.ai/e/keystone-sessions-april-8th

03/30/2026

This week at Keystone Sessions - Access isn’t just a buzzword. It’s a system — and systems can be built, expanded, and redesigned.

That’s what Keystone is all about.

Join us Wednesday, April 1st for an evening of real conversations about the structures that shape who gets to participate in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic opportunity in Kansas City.

Doors open at 4:30 PM. Here’s what’s on the agenda:

📱 5:00 PM — Decode the Feed Algorithm updates on TikTok, Instagram & YouTube are quietly reshaping who gets seen and who gets buried. We’re breaking down what changed, what it means for your business, and how to build a social strategy that actually works.

🌱 6:00 PM — Expanding Access: Stronger Pathways into Entrepreneurship Featuring Paola Zapata — a conversation on how lowering barriers like language and visibility can unlock new founders, new ideas, and deeper community participation in KC’s growing startup ecosystem.

🏡 7:00 PM — Access to Stability: Building the Foundation Before the Future Rosana Polanco, founder of Embrace Your Shine and KC Microcampers, shares the vision behind real pathways to housing stability — and why stability is often the first step toward leadership and long-term growth.

Whether you’re a founder, investor, community leader, or changemaker — this evening was built for you.

Register here: https://keynect.ai/e/keystone-sessions-april-1st

03/19/2026

Who’s making Kansas City’s innovation ecosystem impossible to ignore? The best innovators in Kansas City deserve to be recognized.

It’s time for the 3rd Annual Keystone Awards! This year’s theme is growth & expansion. And we need YOUR help identifying who’s breaking boundaries across six award categories:

Entrepreneur of the Year — Recognizes an individual who has demonstrated exceptional entrepreneurship, innovation, and leadership over the past year, achieving key milestones and making real progress in taking their early-stage startup to the next level.

Scale-Up Award — Celebrates a business that has shown remarkable growth in revenue, market share, or team size while maintaining quality and service as they scale.

Most Innovative Product or Service — Honors a company or individual that has developed a groundbreaking product or service that has influenced the market, set new standards, or solved a problem in a novel way.

Social Impact Award — Recognizes an individual, group, or organization making a significant positive impact on the community or environment through efforts that promote social change and sustainable practices.

Enterprise Innovation Award — Awarded to a corporation that has supported and enabled innovation through resources, mentorship, or entrepreneurial engagement.

Access to Capital Award — Recognizes a financial institution or nonprofit that has expanded access to funding for KC entrepreneurs, removing barriers to capital and creating stronger pathways for growth.

Nominations close April 22nd at midnight. Voting will open for the top 3 nominees in each category on April 24th. Awards take place on June 3rd at 5:30pm.

Submit your nominations here: https://keynect.ai/round1/keystone-awards-2026-nominations-

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