North Carolina Innovation Initiative

Position North Carolina as the leading location for innovation at all levels – entrepreneurial businesses, large businesses, educational facilities, non-profits and government through policy, leveraged use of existing resources and a community of innovators.

Entrepreneurs

Wants/Needs - strong pool of potential employees - a community that supports startups - funding sources - larger organizations that can scale a new product

Innovation is commercializing the one really new idea they have as a new product or service

Represented by CED

Larger Businesses

Wants/Needs - Good working environment - Great pool of smart, motivated employees - Infrastructure/community of other firms

Innovation is extending an existing product or service or introducing a completely new product or service

Represented by NCTA

Higher Education

Wants/Needs - Great students and employment opportunities for

those students - Interesting research - collaboration with leading industry/tech transfer

Innovation in teaching methods and approaches

Represented by NC State, UNC, Duke, UNC-G, UNC-C

State Government

Wants/Needs

- Strong base of business

- Good, high paying jobs

- Growth and Economic Development

Innovation is a driver for these needs, and can impact the approach and methods of government as well

Current Situation

State: a variety of programs targeting entrepreneurs, industry and economic development, none specific to innovation

NCTA: a focus on larger technology organizations with some emphasis on innovation but not a primary focus

CED: Trying to foster a climate and community for entrepreneurs with some emphasis on innovation

Innovation Opportunity

State Government

Entrepreneurs

Large Firms

Universities

InnovationOpportunity

StateDept of Commerce

NCTALarge companies

CEDEntrepreneurs

- Want: Economic Development - Want: More high paying jobs - Innovation is important to grow new jobs. Uncertain how to foster.

- Want: Good working conditions - Want: Good pool of employees - Innovation is a matter of corporate strategy

- Want: Good people - Want: Positive environment - Want: Funding sources - Innovation is putting their one idea into action

EducationUniversities

- Want: Opportunities for students - Want: Research - Want: Tech Transfer/Commercialization - Want: Leading edge thinking - Innovation is becoming a topic they’d like to teach and research

A state-wide focus on improving the conditions for innovation leverages all of theseskills and makes North Carolina more attractive to employers, entrepreneurs andstudents, and brings benefits back to the community. Currently, none of these firms has specific responsibility to foster innovation, andall of them have different constituencies.

Recommendation

1. Look at what other states are doing: Rhode Island Economic DevelopmentPennsylvania: Franklin Technology PartnersGeorgia: Enterprise Innovation Institute

2. Bring together the Department of Commerce, NCTA, CED and universities under one non-profit umbrella organization to promote NC asa center for innovation

3. Focus the non-profit on innovation that benefits each of the key stakeholders: - Universities – new teaching methods, teaching about innovation, attracting new faculty - Large businesses – encouraging innovation in a large organization, attracting talented people, encouraging risk and innovation locally - Small businesses and entrepreneurs – furthering the work of the CED, encouraging “open and collaborative” innovation between small firms and larger firms or small firms and universities - Government – Innovating government thinking and services

4. Create offerings for all of these constituents and have them all contribute

Organization

Organize a new non-profit specifically focused on improving innovation in NC.

Build a board composed of:- Someone from Dept. of Commerce- Someone from NCTA (Joanie Myers)- Someone from CED (Monica Doss)- Someone from the legal community (Turlington?)- Someone(s) from Universities (tech transfer or professors)- Someone from OVO (it’s our idea!)- May need other regional representation

Charter

The North Carolina Innovation Initiative exists to promote the state of North Carolina as a center for innovation in the state government, universities and private businesses by creating networks that sponsor collaboration and open innovation and share resources, best practices and knowledge.

The outcome is to create an environment where North Carolina is recognized as a location that promotes innovation in all facets of its existence – innovative government programs and operations, a business environment focused on creativity and innovation and new product development, and universities focused on new academic approaches and exciting new research.

Funding/Programs and Outcomes

Seek funding from the state government, local government, large organizations and local funding sources like NC-Idea.

Build programs to foster innovation in each of the constituent populations, leveraging things that exist (FastTrac at CED for example) and creating new programs and capabilities – for example, training programs to help improve innovation in large firms and in the government

Hold conferences to encourage open, collaborative innovation between the larger firms who need new technologies or want to spin some out, with the smaller firms or universities who can create new technologies

Create a best practices database that can be collected and shared across the state.