CREATE: Central Region Ecosystem for Arts, Technology, and Entrepreneurship

The Central Region Ecosystem for Arts, Technology, & Entrepreneurship (CREATE) is a non-profit organization headquartered at the Western Kentucky University Innovation Campus in Bowling Green, KY–with additional offices in Elizabethtown &, soon, Owensboro. CREATE’s mission is to foster an innovation environment that brings collaborators together across stakeholder groups to share their networks, design & test new ideas, commercialize proven solutions, & grow those solutions here. CREATE provides those collaborators with connections, concepts, commercialization support, & space to support the growth of innovative projects—all aimed at providing opportunities for talented people to achieve their potential, individually & collectively, in this region. Our success is ultimately measured in opportunities & jobs. For more than two decades, as an independent 501(c)(3), CREATE has facilitated the development, growth, recruitment, & retention of emerging businesses with national/international markets in our region, & fostered an environment to support & sustain world-class applied research. CREATE has helped recruit & establish hundreds of startup companies in the region, generating thousands of jobs with cumulative payroll in excess of $100 million, & revenues in excess of $1 billion. At the WKU Innovation Campus in Bowling Green, CREATE has long co-managed the WKU Small Business Accelerator & hosted various centers for the WKU Applied Research & Technology Program. In 2022, CREATE also co-launched the 30K-sq-ft WKU Collaborative SmartSpace for creative & strategy talent. Today, we support a range of innovation initiatives at the WKU throughout our region, which connects Nashville, Owensboro, & Elizabethtown to the Bowling Green area along I-65 & I-165. CREATE is an Innovation Hub for the KY Cabinet for Economic Development’s KY Innovation & is also supported by WKU, Bowling Green, Warren County, Hardin County, & the Bowling Green Area Chamber of Commerce.