Second annual KU School of Business entrepreneurship celebration to feature leader in innovation

LAWRENCE — Bestselling author and leader in innovation Steven Johnson will be the keynote speaker of the second annual Startup Jayhawk, a University of Kansas School of Business multiday event celebrating entrepreneurship.

Johnson’s talk, set for 6:30 p.m. March 26, will take place in the Dicus Family Auditorium, 1111 Capitol Federal Hall. It is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Johnson will present “Where Good Ideas Come From: Patterns of Innovation and How We Got to Now,” examining the cultural, environmental, biological and historical factors that fuel major developments. He is the editorial director at Google Labs, a cornerstone of Google’s artificial intelligence division. He also is one of the creators of NotebookLM, Google’s experimental AI-powered research tool designed to generate insights and information based on a user’s notes or other selected sources.

Johnson has written more than a dozen books centered on how innovations drive societal change. His next book, titled “The Infernal Machine,” will be released in May and explores anarchism, the rise of the “modern detective” and the emerging surveillance state. Johnson also regularly contributes to The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Wired magazine and other publications. He hosts the TED Interview podcast and has delivered several TED Talks.

The KU School of Business’ Startup Jayhawk celebrates the KU student entrepreneurial ecosystem and the communities the university serves. KU students are invited to participate in additional Startup Jayhawk events, which include a Kansas City startup tour March 22 and a 60-minute challenge leveraging AI tools March 25. More information about the events, including registration links, can be found at the Startup Jayhawk website.

The inaugural Startup Jayhawk took place in April 2023 and featured keynote speaker Jeni Britton, founder and chief creative officer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, among a lineup of other activities.

More information about KU School of Business entrepreneurship curricular and co-curricular programming and events, which are open to all KU students, can be found on the School of Business website.