Those were some of the words being tossed around as a group from the Louisville/Lexington BEAM initiative toured the University of Louisville鈥檚 Belknap Campus Feb. 29.
BEAM is a creation of the mayors of Louisville and Lexington and stands for the Bluegrass Economic Advancement Movement. Its goal is to foster more research and manufacturing collaborations between Kentucky鈥檚 two largest cities and research universities in the hopes of attracting more entrepreneurs, companies and jobs to central Kentucky.
Eleven people, including Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer, joined the tour, which made stops at the Speed Engineering School鈥檚 rapid prototype lab and the clean room in the Shumaker Research Building.
UofL President James Ramsey told the group that, for UofL and the University of Kentucky, 鈥渢here鈥檚 a time to compete and a time to collaborate.鈥 Ramsey said the two schools are already working together on more than 100 projects, because they realize that Kentucky鈥檚 research and economic prospects are strengthened by cooperation.
During the stop at the rapid protype lab, industrial engineering professor Brent Stucker explained that UofL has 鈥渢he best collection of technology in the whole world for additive manufacturing,鈥 bringing a great opportunity to attract companies that want to be closer to the place where special parts for their products are being made. Kevin Walsh led the clean room tour, showing off UofL鈥檚 ability to produce microscopic items in an ultra-clean environment.