Innovate Now: Overview and Next Steps

1. Innovate Now:Overview and Next Steps February 2007

2. Innovation and Economic Development Growing national consensus: • States and their regions will increasingly compete on innovation in a global knowledge-based economy • States and regions must have strategies for achieving sustainable differentiation and competitive advantage through innovation • Public and private leaders must engage their states and regions in raising awareness and launching coordinated economic development, workforce development, and education initiatives to achieve sustainable competitive advantage

3. National Context • Books and national reports on innovation and global competitiveness have effectively framed the challenges and issues • National Governors Association “Innovation America” initiative will provide a window of opportunity for states and their regions to take leadership roles in promoting innovation and economic development.

4. State Context • Innovation initiatives provide a useful frame of reference for: • Describing the major changes in state and regional economies and future trends • Rethinking the state and regional business environment that will set the stage for future economic development • Innovation initiatives increase the focus on key education and workforce issues such as: • Rising education requirements and number of residents not prepared for postsecondary education • STEM and other critical skill shortages • P-20 alignment and integration

5. Innovate Now Initiative • Goal: Make the Chicagoland Region and Illinois globally recognized centers of innovation • Phases: • Phase I—Raise awareness and build consensus on strategies starting in the Chicagoland Region with focus on manufacturing (lead by Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, World Business Chicago, and DCEO) • Phase II—Move to statewide and regional planning and action after gaining consensus and commitment from public and private leaders

6. Phase I Activities • Innovate Now Summit on October 24, 2006 in partnership with Council on Competitiveness • CEO Innovation Forums and Business Profiles • Review of Leading Practices • Meetings with national experts • Review of national and state initiatives • Review of business innovation literature

7. Defining Innovation • Innovation is the development and implementation of new ideas and new ways of doing things (business models, products and services, markets, processes) to create customer value and drive business and economic growth. • Business model innovation provides the necessary framework for the full utilization of science and technology advancement • Business innovation includes both incremental improvements and breakthrough developments. • Business innovation is broader than science and technological discovery and advancement. It is the interface between business entrepreneurship and science and technology discovery as well as other types of creativity and discovery

8. Innovation Talent States and regions can create comparative advantage by creating a new breed of innovation talent with: • Business entrepreneurship skills—creating new business models, identifying and exploiting customer needs in new markets with new products and services • Global and culturally diverse—engage customers and partners throughout the world • Strong STEM knowledge and skills—both depth in specialties and capable of working across functions and disciplines in open collaborative networks with customers, suppliers, and partners • Work and learn using mass collaboration platforms and tools

9. Four Key Strategies for Promoting Innovation • Business Innovation Leadership and Capacity • Open Collaborative Innovation Networks • Innovation Talent • Innovation Metrics

10. Business Innovation Leadership and Capacity • Public-private leadership to convey the vision and strategies • CEO forums and meetings to promote peer-to-peer exchange • Executive leadership education opportunities in innovation • Expanded education and training programs in innovation approaches and methods • Promoting leading practices in business innovation metrics that provide the foundation for state and regional innovation metrics

11. Open Collaborative Innovation Networks • Promoting open business models and innovation processes • Launching more open-ended and dynamic approaches to economic cluster initiatives • Promoting more comprehensive models for university, community college, and federal laboratory roles in innovation • Providing gap funding for scientific and technological innovations between basic research and commercialization • Exploring how to leverage new innovation intermediaries (e.g., Innocentive.com) and new mass collaboration platforms and tools

12. Innovation Talent • Recruiting and retaining the top innovation talent in the world • Leading business HR strategies for recruiting, developing, utilizing and retaining talent • New interdisciplinary programs addressing entrepreneurship, innovation, and STEM education • Innovation-centered approaches to K-12 STEM education that integrate existing initiatives • Innovation-centered P-20 alignment and integration efforts

13. Innovation Metrics • Illinois must promote a national discussion with leading public and private sector experts • Start with leading business practices in measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of innovation processes not just input or intermediate measures such as research and development spending and intellectual property • Develop comprehensive framework that can be used by businesses and key innovation partners (e.g., universities) as well as states and regions in benchmarking innovation performance

14. Next Steps for Phase I • Convene national meeting of public and private leaders and experts in Chicago on building open collaborative innovation networks (in cooperation with national sponsors) • Conduct regional innovation forums focusing on innovation talent and key issues in education and workforce development • Develop Phase I report on promoting innovation in Illinois

15. Innovate NowContact Information: Lance Pressl, Ph.D. Foundation President Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce 200 E. Randolph Street, Suite 2200Chicago, Illinois 60601 Phone: 312.494.6766   Fax: 312.861.0644 LPressl@chicagolandchamber.org