Creativity, knowledge, and invention: These have always been, and still remain, the ultimate drivers of American capitalism. When the Founding Fathers crafted the United States Constitution more than 200 years ago, they were keenly aware of the power of invention and were careful to specifically include patent law in Article l, section 8. So that being said, let’s recognize that innovation is a basic economic asset. Kind of like an inalienable right protected by the Constitution.
From the lessons learned during the numerous Soviet influenced command economies of the 20th century, innovation, or lack of innovation in this case, clearly stifles growth of a national economy.
For the lessons learned during the numerous Soviet influenced command economies of the 20th century, innovation, or lack of innovation in this case, clearly stifles growth of a national economy.
The simple equation of Creativity + Knowledge = Innovation is often measured only by dollars expended on research and development. Yes, the commonly accepted benchmarks of patents obtained, dollars invested in research and development, and doctorates on the payroll appear somewhat misleading and understate the true magnitude of innovation originated from and driven by small business. In our daily activity with business incubation in the Orlando area we have observed a strong and constant stream of individuals totally absorbed, often obsessed, with creating something new, different, better, or faster. While some of these ideas appear esoteric, most are market driven, functional responses to an existing problem or situation.
In the now classic 1981 work In Search of Excellence, authors Peters and Waterman discussed how innovative companies embraced a culture that encourages risk taking, celebrates and reward all ideas, regardless of how significant an improvement actually is. These large, publicly owned companies embraced a culture of experimentation and rewarded even the slightest improvement. Their financial success was in large part driven by their ability to develop and hold on to entrepreneurial talent.
In the dual role of educators and economic developers, we have been forced to hone our own skills at fostering more sharing and collaboration across our local business community. Creativity and idea generation rarely occur in haphazard form, and typically follow some articulated and defined process.
We’ve seen good success in helping many to clarify and define that process without risk of constraining or shutting down the flow of creativity. For several years now, our community college has been a magnet of entrepreneurial activity. Across our Small Business Development Center, Technology Incubator, and Advisory Board Council mentoring program, our community college has maintained a leadership role in blending creativity with academic knowledge for sole purpose of fueling the economic engine of innovation.
Here are several cased from 2008. For a struggling, at-risk architectural design firm, we facilitated a right protected by the Constitution.
From the lessons learned during the numerous Soviet influenced command economies of the 20th century, innovation, or lack of innovation in this case, clearly stifles growth of a national brainstorming session with all 16 of their workers that effectively identified potential, untapped construction markets. For Jack, a local inventor with a concept sketch for a new industrial connector, we helped craft focus group research that helped delineate buyers most likely to be early adapters. Or Jim, who had developed improved production efficiencies for his fresh water farm fishery venture. Each of these was a process driven endeavor, spearheaded by an entrepreneur who was free thinking, open minded, with hardly any fear of failure.
Here in early 2009, understand that we have now seen 11 economic downturns, or recessions, since the end of World War ii. In the past, monetary and fiscal policies have been sufficiently effective so as to shorten the duration and severity of each of the recessions. We’ve become accustomed to a relatively smooth ride along calm waters. True, this recession is different as it is accompanied by a financial crisis of historic proportions. Yes, the economic severity is still projected to be less harsh than the 10% unemployment and double-digit inflation of the 1981-82 recession.
In analyzing each of the past 11 recessions it should come as no surprise that America’s large corporations were laying off workers. What is noteworthy is that during these identical time periods, small to mid-sized businesses were doing the exact opposite. They were adding jobs and operating in full job creation mode.
So as we get deeper into the current recession, realize that we as community college professionals will be expected to play an even greater role in helping to guide entrepreneurial talent across an ever-increasing quantity of creative workers. From my vantage point, we are better prepared for this challenge than at any time in recent history.
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