
Helping KY companies discover, test, and implement innovative ideas.
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That's where we come in.
We help companies:

Increase Revenue

Improve Efficiency

Cut Costs

Empower Your Employees

Cheaply + Quickly Test Ideas

Find Separation in the Market
We're taking our 10+ years of working with startups and driving that same creativity and innovation through KY's corporate community.
Our team learned a vast amount of problem solving, teamwork, and idea execution tactics
from our time with [Innovation Incubated]. In our business, from a seasonal standpoint,
everyone always has ideas and 'what ifs', but they don't always get planned, executed,
or fully thought out strategically. Through [Innovation Incubated], our team gained vast
knowledge on how to go about true strategy and execution.
Andy Shea, Owner, Lexington Legends






Our Team's Experience
We guide leadership and employees through an experience that teaches and empowers them to grow their ideas and turn them into reality.

Mike Hilton
Mike excels at organizing teams around new ideas and strategies, making him the perfect person to help Awesome Inc launch the Innovation Incubated program in 2018. As a native Lexingtonian, he's passionate about making Central Kentucky a vibrant community for those ideas. He brings to the team a specific focus on increasing partnerships between the startup and corporate worlds, leveraging Innovation Incubated as the right tool to start innovative conversations.

Liz Brown Evans
With experience both at a Fortune 1000 company and also growing a small business in Central KY, Liz brings both a strategic and tactical perspective to the Innovation Incubated team. She helps guide the long-term innovation community through corporate partnerships, while also continually refining the execution of each relationship. Her mission is to make Kentucky known as an innovation hub and strengthen KY communities who are passionate about creativity.

Tony Schmidt
As the moderator of Innovation Incubated, Tony brings the perfect combination of corporate and startup experience to your team. After graduating from UK, he joined the Microsoft team in Seattle where competed in their annual hackathon. After 5 years, he moved home to Lexington to grow his own tech startup, and loves coaching the next generation of entrepreneurs in Central Kentucky.
How We Work with Companies

We start by understanding your current needs and goals around innovation.


We work together and use a variety of tools to build a solution for your company.

- Innovation Incubated Workshop
- Idea Accelerator
- Reverse Pitch
- Design Sprint
- Corporate Round-table Discussions
- Startup Community Collaboration

We execute the plan and review the results.