St. Louis isn’t just competing in the AI economy — it’s about to be a premier hub for artificial intelligence and geospatial innovation with the debut of the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center.
GeoSTL, the nonprofit geospatial and AI economic development entity, will serve as the Center’s administrator, working in partnership with a coalition of industry leaders from World Wide Technology, Amazon Web Services, Google, NVIDIA, Overture Maps Foundation, and WEKA, per a press release issued Wednesday.
The Innovation Center will combine high-performance computing, drive AI innovation and regional economic growth, and establish a new global digital utility for AI for public good, according to the release. To that end, 20% of the Center’s total computational capacity will be dedicated exclusively to civic projects that benefit the public good.
“St. Louis has a long history of pioneering the future, and the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center is no exception,” said Ron Kitchens, Managing Partner of Greater St. Louis, Inc. “This groundbreaking partnership will further establish our region as the center for geospatial and artificial intelligence innovation, catalyze economic growth, and attract the nation’s top talent to St. Louis to address humanity’s most pressing challenges. We commend GeoSTL for its leadership and look forward to our continued partnership as the Center expands its programming.”
The Center will also launch a long-term collaboration between partners to build shared AI infrastructure, accelerate innovation, and expand access to advanced computing resources, per the release.
“The creation of the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center marks a pivotal moment for our region and the broader tech community,” said Mark Munsell, Executive Director of GeoSTL. “With the combined expertise and resources of these extraordinary partners, we are laying the foundation for a transformative collaborative space that will drive the next generation of AI solutions that benefit humanity.”
The investment from local and global tech leaders will help advance cutting-edge research, industry application, and workforce development in St. Louis innovation clusters, creating a global “digital utility” that will drive economic growth across the region and beyond.
“World Wide Technology was founded in St. Louis in 1990, and this region has always been at the heart of who we are,” said Jim Kavanaugh, Co-Founder and CEO of World Wide Technology, in the release. “We’re proud to sit at the center of the industry’s technology ecosystem, connecting St. Louis to the innovation and expertise that help position it as a hub for AI and geospatial work — and the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center is a great example of that connection at work.”
As the Center looks to the future and invests in the AI economy, it also draws inspiration from St. Louis’ storied innovation and exploration legacy. Its very name references Charles Lindbergh’s historic “Spirit of St. Louis” flight, which celebrates its centennial in 2027. That connection runs deeper still, as the Lindbergh Foundation has joined as a founding member and premier donor of the project’s 1927 Committee, named for the original St. Louis civic leaders who funded Charles Lindbergh’s Orteig Prize flight in 1927.
“As pioneering long-distance aviators, Charles and Anne Morrow Lindbergh relied on maps — the original geospatial databases — to explore our planet,” said Erik Lindbergh, Chairman of The Lindbergh Foundation, in the release. “The Lindbergh Foundation is proud to be part of the history of ongoing evolution of geospatial information technologies and the future that connects St. Louisans to the many opportunities in this exciting field.”
The Center seeks to “democratize access to advanced capabilities for researchers, the public sector, startups, and industry,” and will prioritize STEM outreach and education programming. It also aims to solve complex community problems through its “The Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Competitions,” a series of competitive tracks across major economic clusters, from helping farmers with agriculture technology, businesses with advanced manufacturing, medical and plant researchers with bio and health sciences, national security, humanitarian and disaster relief, fintech, transportation, and supply chain logistics.
The challenges will include coordination and partnership with Taylor Geospatial, 39 North Agtech Innovation District, the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Center, BioSTL, TechSTL, Yield Lab Institute, and the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center. The first innovation challenge is expected to launch before the end of the year, with the Center to formally announce and launch its initial programing on the same timeline.
“St. Louis has always been a city of pioneers, and our family is deeply committed to ensuring our hometown remains at the forefront of global innovation,” said Andy Taylor, Executive Chairman of Enterprise Mobility and GeoSTL patron, in the release. “By bringing together industry leaders like NVIDIA and hometown champions like World Wide Technology, the Spirit of St. Louis AI Innovation Center will harness geospatial AI to solve complex, real-world problems. This initiative isn’t just about advancing technology — it’s about accelerating regional economic growth and firmly placing St. Louis on the global map of innovation.”