Innovation Opportunities

People interested in getting more involved with innovation need to do two things: 1) determine what aspects of innovation are of interest to them, and 2) find or build innovation communities.

The following aspects of innovation are of high interest to me:

1. Innovation in the PPNB industry supercluster (pulp & paper, printing, nonwovens, biorefinery).
2. Tele-collaboration resources and effective real-world use of those resources.
   
3. Technology innovation, especially in the computer industry, the emerging civilian space area, the nanotechnology field, portable power innovations and general internet advancements.
4. Innovation in the Midwest USA, Wisconsin, and especially northeast Wisconsin.
5. Innovation which significantly improves networking, entrepreneurism, collaboration and 'quality of life' in northeast Wisconsin.
6. Innovation which may help build the tech community in the Midwest USA, especially in the CM3/I-94 region (Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, Minneapolis).

The second action step mentioned above is finding or building innovation communities. This second step becomes significantly easier as more of the innovation communities make their existence known to others via the internet and as internet search effectiveness improves. However, these communities are in the early stages of learning how to use the internet to make themselves findable. Internet search also has much room for improvement in understanding what a user is searching for and providing them the top ten most meaningful web page links for any given search.

There are many possible components of 'finding/building innovation communities.' I am meeting with a knowledge worker or two next week to discuss some of those components. A post on this blog next week will detail three or four of the ways we plan to 'find/build' innovation communities over the next six to twelve months.

As always, your suggestions or thoughts on this topic are encouraged and appreciated.

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