PROVIDENCE – The Business Innovation Factory today announced a new partner: Masco Corp., a leading maker of consumer products for the home-improvement and new construction markets.

“Masco, with approximately 6,300 shareholders and 52,000 employees, was drawn to BIF by the power of its Experience Labs and the role the labs might play in Masco’s innovation program,” BIF said in its electronic newsletter today.

The company has been active in BIF’s “Nursing Home of the Future” initiative, an Experience Lab that is developing and testing new solutions to the challenges of elder care.

“The NHoF initiative is allowing BIF to construct a more accurate picture of how residents interact with the facility and staff, utilize private and shared spaces, use equipment and furnishings, access medical care and engage in recreational activities,” the nonprofit writes.

The public is invited to hear about the nursing-home initiative in a presentation next Wednesday, at 3 p.m., at BIF’s offices in the American Locomotive Works on Valley Street, Providence, or by reading the online progress report.

Results also will be presented at the annual Collaborative Innovation Summit, now just a month away, where innovators from many industries will take the stage to share their stories. (READ MORE) The BIF-4 summit will be hosted by BusinessWeek Assistant Managing Editor Bruce Nussbaum and “Mavericks at Work” author Bill Taylor. (READ MORE)

The latest “storyteller” to join the lineup for BIF-4 is architect and theatrical set designer David Rockwell, of the New York City-based Rockwell Architecture, Planning and Design P.C., who will join Nussbaum in a discussion about “design, architecture and connecting people in real time and real space,” BIF said. Rockwell’s projects have included a 4.8 million-square-foot addition to the Mohegan Sun Casino; the interiors of Nobu and the W Hotels; the viewing platform at New York City’s Ground Zero; a freestanding building for Cirque du Soleil; and the Broadway musical “Hairspray.”

The Business Innovation Factory (BIF) is community of innovators who are collaborating to explore business-model innovation, seeking to move ideas off the white board and onto the ground as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. Additional information about BIF and its fourth annual Collaborative Innovation Summit – to be held at Trinity Repertory Company in Providence this Oct. 15 and 16 – is available at www.BusinessInnovationFactory.com.