August 4, 2025, Guardian Club Room, Guardian Building – Detroit, MI

This August, the Research and Development Strategic Visioning (RDSV) team marked a major milestone in its year long Collaborative Design of Data and AI Systems for Science and Society effort by convening University of Michigan faculty, Microsoft, the City of Detroit, and additional external stakeholders for an ambitious, hands on workshop. 

With the Detroit River and Windsor, Canada in view, workshop participants focused on a core premise: solving complex civic and societal problems with data and AI. The co-design of such systems requires long term, trust based collaboration across academia, government, community partners, and industry. In a format that is more common in industry settings than academic convenings, the workshop took an ambitious, hackathon style approach, pushing teams to move from exploratory data analysis to initial prototype builds and refinements within a single day. By bringing stakeholder perspectives into the same day as rapid prototyping, the session created space for teams to test assumptions early, refine project direction, and identify what sustainable partnership could look like after the workshop.

A day designed for collaboration and prototyping

• Hackathon-style prototyping: Teams moved from exploratory data analysis to initial builds and refinements, enabling tangible progress within a single day.
  
• Stakeholder-centered design: Stakeholders joined a working lunch and participated in structured breakout discussions to share organizational context, priorities, and partnership considerations.
  
• Collaboration pathways discussion: Stakeholder Q&A focused on practical questions, such as how projects will be supported, what continued success looks like, and how collaboration can be sustained after the workshop.
  
• Prototype showcase + feedback: Team presentations created a direct feedback loop between builders and stakeholders, surfacing near-term improvements and longer-term partnership needs.
  
• Closing debrief: The group reflected on hackathon effectiveness and identified next steps to strengthen both prototype development and partnership continuity.

Keeping the Work Moving

The workshop reinforced that effective public-private collaboration isn’t a single meeting: it’s a shared process that benefits from clear framing, early stakeholder engagement, and iterative development. MIDAS will continue supporting this work by helping project teams sustain momentum, integrate stakeholder feedback, and identify opportunities for follow-on collaboration and implementation.