Photo from 2025 RISE event (Courtesy: UVM).
Featuring a keynote on AI and the future rural economy, UVM innovation conference on June 16 will explore partnerships to build rural prosperity
Vermont Business Magazine On June 16, community leaders, entrepreneurs, policymakers, researchers, and students from across the region will gather at the University of Vermont for the annual RISE Summit. Centered around the theme “Partnerships for Rural Prosperity: Building Community-University Collaboration,” the summit will explore how partnerships can help strengthen rural communities and expand opportunity across Vermont and beyond.
Hosted by UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, RISE, which stands for Research, Innovation, Sustainability, and Entrepreneurship, brings together participants from a broad range of sectors to discuss solutions to complex rural challenges through collaboration, research, and community engagement. More than 800 people attended the summit last year.
“I always love the energy in the room at RISE,” said Tricia Coates, Director, UVM Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships. “It’s all about curiosity, learning, and connection with so many people who share a common interest in a prosperous future for our state.”
This year’s keynote session, “AI and the Future Rural Economy,” will feature a panel discussion examining how rural communities can approach emerging technologies in ways that support long-term prosperity, innovation, and public trust.
Keynote panelists include:
- Kyla Kasharian, Senior Program Associate, Siegel Family Endowment, whose work focuses on ensuring AI supports community-driven innovation rather than extractive systems.
- Matt Dunne, Founder and CEO, Center on Rural Innovation (CORI), who works with rural communities across America to create new opportunities through innovation and emerging technologies.
- Kate Mays, UVM Assistant Professor of Public Communication, whose research explores how communities engage with AI and civic technology.
Participants will take part in sessions and workshops focused on collaboration, economic development, and community wellbeing.
Sessions include:
- How rural communities across the U.S. learn from one another through shared challenges and innovation.
- Examining how partnerships move from ideas to action in rural communities.
- How investments in rural businesses and innovation create value beyond traditional economic metrics.
Speakers and moderators will include UVM President Marlene Tromp, Tony Pipa (Brookings Institute), David Bradbury (Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies), Maura Collins (Vermont Housing Finance agency), Rafael Caronell (Harvard Taubman Center for State and Local Government), Beth Haskovec (Wisconsin’s Office of Rural Prosperity), James Stafford (BioLabs), Kevin Chu (Vermont Futures Project), Karen Anderson (Vermont Public), Tino Rutanhira (Vermont Professionals of Color Network), Kirk Dombrowski (UVM), and many more.
UVM professor David Feurzeig, who is performing free piano concerts in each of Vermont’s 252 towns, will perform.
The event will include networking opportunities, locally sourced food, student engagement activities, and the Leahy Institute Award for Distinguished Community Engagement, presented by Senator Patrick Leahy (ret.).
Learn more about RISE and register now: https://www.uvm.edu/ruralpartnerships/rise
The RISE Summit is hosted by UVM’s Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships, which fosters engagement opportunities and partnerships with the University of Vermont for the benefit of rural communities.
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Vermont Business Magazine