While debates about how best to deliver healthcare in the United States rage on, conversations about our health and well-being have spread into every corner of society. Inspired by that discussion, U-M has launched an innovative new approach to student health by offering holistic programs that employ coaching, education and therapy as a path toward better living.
No matter how loving the home, Asian adoptees often struggle with identity. The impacts of race and culture don't diminish with assimilation. Mam non is a support program that helps adopted children and their parents bridge the gap between their Asian and American identities.
Are you ready for your car to go driverless? While it's arguable as to whether Michigan will remain the international manufacturing center for auto bodies and interiors, the Ann Arbor area is likely to become the industry's brain center as research ramps up on wirelessly connected, self-driving car systems.
Cultivating the entrepreneurial ecosystem requires talent, density, and quality of life. Or so says Thomas Zurbuchen. The founding director of the U-M Center for Entrepreneurship believes that Ann Arbor needs more size, collision and shots on goal if it truly wants to be a community that builds and sustains robust local entrepreneurship.
Sometimes a step back in time can be a step into the future. At the Michigan Folk School in Superior Township, back-to-basics living isn't just seen as nostalgia for arts and crafts, but rather a community-based counterbalance to the alienating advances of technology.
"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants."-Michael Pollan, In Defense Of Food An innovative 'prescription' program introduces medicinal benefits of fresh produce to lower income Washtenaw County residents. It's not only showing promising results, it's gained the attention of the Public Health Foundation.
It's no surprise that folks in the Ann Arbor area are an inventive bunch. Having one of the top universities in the country in your backyard helps. So, what's in the works? How about a telescope that listens to outer space? Or cars that learn how to avoid crashes? Or, best of all, head phones that won't tangle in your pocket?
Is improving a community's mass transit better than an aerobics class? Local health planners have begun to advocate for and help improve transportation and land use options in order to improve public health.
As economic systems go global, establishing a sustainable and vibrant market for local produce becomes a challenging mix of production, distribution, community engagement, and entrepreneurship. Ann Arbor's greenbelt is opening the door to forward-looking ideas about how we create a local food hub to feed our residents.
"Game changing technologies". "Thinking outside the box". "Bucking the status quo". Business is big on innovative jargon, but what does it really take to remake the economic landscape? Whether it was the automobile a hundred years ago or last year's iPad, disruptive thinking is more than just risk-taking entrepreneurship, it's the business of course-altering creation. And the financial impacts are staggering.
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