Innovation and Entrepreneurial Networks: REI.Tuesdays, a Platform for Civic Engagement

REI.Tuesdays

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2003 - 2005 REI.Tuesdays.-- weekly civic forums convened by the Center for Regional Economic Issues (REI) at the Weatherhead School of Management, Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio engaged over 3,000 civic, business, government, and academic leaders from across 23 Northeast Ohio counties.

REI.Tuesdays civic forum conversations (Slide #2 above) address enterprise opportunity through the lens of the Innovation Framework - a heuristic model of investment in Open Source Economic Development (Slide #3).

The conversation matrix (Slide #4) provides an information infrastructure to underpin strategic scheduling and project presentation in the entrepreneurial community. Civic forums also introduce Strategic Doing - a simple, yet disciplined process to quickly move ideas to action (Slide #5) - and offer feedback loops for project work continuing outside of the regular forum schedule.

REI.Tuesdays is an example of how the civic forum process builds open economic networks for innovation to flourish and generates transformative enterprise for regional business development, human and organizational capacity building (Slide #6).

In terms of a model, REI.Tuesdays

  • Was funded by the telecommunications industry, SBC Global Ameritech
  • Supported by the Center for Regional Economic Issues, Case Western Reserve University, and 3000 Northeast Ohio business, government, academic, and civic entrepreneurs
  • Delivered social capital, web 2.0 platforms, local and global industry networks, generations of learning communties, and transformative industry clusters, and
  • Serves as a model for other forums, such as Fridays@The Corridor, Charleston Technology Corridor, Charleston, South Carolina and Thursdays at the House, Indiana Humanities Council, in Indianaoplois, Indiana.

The I-Open Civic Forum process is a successful approach to connect regional research and industry innovation for enterprise development in Open Source Economic Development.

Betsey Merkel, Co-Founder & Director of I-Open, is designer of the I-Open Civic Forum process.

References:

 

Brainpower: Spheres of Opportunity

Street_light

Street Light

Photo: Alice Merkel

Today, we are at the intersection of three maturing realms: human sociality, economic infrastructure, and deteriorating environmental systems.

These three intersections offer us great opportunity to explore and invent transformative enterprise solutions.

With the aid of technology, we are able to replicate, scale and leverage extensible solutions across diverse sectors.

Enterprise Intersections in Open Source Economic Development

COINS 2010 Coolhunting Academy: Skills Training to Strengthen Creativity and Collaboration

The COINs 2010 Coolhunting Academy document (above) offers background information for the upcoming Coolhunting Academy, a hands-on skills training workshop for entrepreneurs, organization, government, foundation, and economic development professionals.

The Academy offers an ideal opportunity to learn and apply new skills to "coolhunting" - the practice of seeking the most creative ideas and people - for the purpose of "coolfarming" - the practice of collaborating to help them succeed.

You will learn technical skills training and connect to new conversations with other like-minded entrepreneurs focused on advancing creativity as a driving force in regional economic development. You will discover new friends and colleagues interested too, in generating transformative projects and initiatives for enterprise development.

The October 2010 Coohunting Academy is presented prior to the COINs2010 Conference, October 7, 8, & 9, 2010. Attendance at this workshop is free for conference attendees; registration is $120 for workshop participation only. A three-month trial version of Condor is included.

Skill Set for the Ideal Condor user -- (note: if you do not have all of these skills ask your favorite Tech Geek to accompany you to work together!)

* very good computer skills, knowledge in a Web application development language (php, Javascript, perl, java), database skills (MySQL)

* and can be applied for organizational analysis, as in this case:

* sociology, psychology

* or Web mining, brand tracking, marketing, as in this case:

* marketing, branding, communication

Academy Details and Logistics --

Meet the GalaxyAdvisor Team who leads Workshops:

Kai Fischbach - Chief Scientist
Hauke Fuehres - Chief Technology Officer
Peter A. Gloor - Chief Creative Officer and Founder
Ken Riopelle - Chief Coolfarming Officer

DATE: Thursday, October 7, 2010
TIME: 11:00 am – 4:00 pm
LOCATION: Arnold Hall, 1810 Bull Street, Savannah, Georgia 31401

Take me directly to the COOLHUNTING ACADEMY REGISTRATION

The October 2010 Coohunting Academy is presented prior to the COINs2010 Conference, October 7, 8, & 9, 2010. Attendance at this workshop is free for conference attendees; registration is $120 for workshop participation only. A three-month trial version of Condor is included.

CONFERENCE FEE: Academic and Professional Rate: $180.00. Reduced Student Rate: $50.00.

Branding of non profit organizations, a case study of collaborative innovation and commercialization in the U.S.A. renewable energy industry

Note from author Jimmie Flock on Facebook:

"This work is the first installment in my journey into collaborative networks. I took a known problem, market demand for 'green' energy and the 'limited options in supply' and looked at the tools, innovation communities and branding to determine if these would be viable methods to address the market gap problem. The measurement focused on users of energy, their perception dimensions of a would be brand for this product concept."

..."I expect the next installment to be more focused specifically on constructing the brand elements (market segmentation specifics) for what would be a collaborative innovation organization, focused on service in the energy alternatives sector. The next step will be more focused on enterprising, applying the concepts laid out in the thesis."

Jim's clarification helps people understand how they could connect to the interests outlined in the paper, how to contribute, and possible new collaborative opportunities to scale mutual interests. If you're interested, you can connect with Jim on Facebook or LinkedIn.

 

I-Open on Livestream: Saul Kaplan's story of building innovation networks in education, health care, and energy

Saul Kaplan, Founder and Chief Catalyst, Business Innovation Factory in Providence, Rhode Island, talks on I-Open's Livestream channel about his rich experience and present work identifying innovators, building networks and community for new systems to implement new solutions in education, health care, and energy.

You can download the transcription of the interview to your desktop from the I-Open library on Scribd or Slideshare.

Learn more about I-Open innovators like Saul Kaplan in Open Source Economic Development at I-Open's collaborative community space here.

Copyright 2009 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA

Saul Kaplan, Founder & Chief Catalyst, Business Innovation Factory 07-31-09 Interview

Listen to the video interview and learn more about Saul's work in designing new outcomes for economic systems in education, health care, and energy at I-Open.

Copyright 2009 Betsey Merkel and I-Open. Creative Commons 3.0 Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works. Institute for Open Economic Networks (I-Open) 4415 Euclid Ave 3rd Fl Cleveland, Ohio 44103 USA