Now more than ever, North Carolina’s future depends on our ability to create and adopt new products, services and business models that yield value. That’s “innovation,” and our state’s private and public leaders, our people and organizations, must commit to making it happen here each and every day. Our economic development and quality of life, which are intertwined with dynamic global forces, depend on it.
Recognizing that North Carolina must stay on the cutting edge of innovation in order to remain globally competitive, in November 2009 Governor Beverly Perdue formed, via Executive Order number 29 the North Carolina Innovation Council. As part of the Governor’s JOBS NOW initiative, the Council was charged with recommending ways to strengthen North Carolina’s “innovation ecosystem”—the complex and dynamic collection of people, organizations, policies, and programs that create innovative ideas, translate those ideas into innovative products and practices, build new companies and organizations to move those ideas forward, and nurture those new organizations to help them create jobs. At each point in this ecosystem, innovation may require alignment of existing public and private assets behind a common vision, strategic investments, supportive policies, culture change and persistence, and a concerted effort to listen to, learn from, and lead key stakeholders.
More than most states and nations, North Carolina already has in place many of the people, organizations, policies, and programs necessary for responding to the global innovation challenge. They simply need to be enhanced, optimized, and realigned to foster and accelerate the spread of innovation, both within government and externally throughout the state’s economy to the broader society. The North Carolina Innovation Council’s charge is to recommend the best ways to make this happen.
Drawing upon a variety of statistical indicators, policy reports, input from stakeholders, and best practices in other states and nations, the council conducted detailed “state of the State” assessments of North Carolina’s innovation ecosystem. This work yielded the 10 proposals outlined below, which serve as a near-term agenda for the Governor.
To read the 10 proposals follow this link: http://www.ncscitech.com/PDF/reports/Innovation_Council_Initial_Recommendations.pdf