Innovation thrives when we remove silos
Labor attorney Rob Richardson Jr. is chair of the University of Cincinnati Board of Trustees.
Discussion about innovation often comes in the context of starting a company, putting a new twist on an old product or service, or making a lot of money through new ideas. To me, innovation primarily refers to the long, hard process that may result in those things. It’s rebelling against the status quo, not accepting things as they are because you know they can be better. Innovation is also not limited to the business world, it can and must be applied to improving our communities and creating lasting social impact.
This year the Board of Trustees and senior leadership at the University of Cincinnati have committed to developing and implementing a strategy to unleash our enormous innovative capabilities. We are convinced it will make our education and research assets more powerful and relevant in the community. In the same way our cooperative education and experiential learning help build a bridge between studying your discipline and actually doing it, our emerging innovation strategy connects our academic potential with entrepreneurial opportunities to expand opportunities for students, businesses and the community.
Yet innovation can thrive only when we set aside conventional thinking and remove silos that often divide us, thus hindering the very nature of innovation. By merging our many areas of academic and research excellence, then connecting them to industry and community partners and their real-world challenges, we will become a hotbed for true, breakthrough innovation – not only in theory, but most importantly in practice.
The moment for such transformative action is here and we are celebrating it with our first annual Next Lives Here Innovation Summit, to be held Oct. 20 from 1:15 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. The event will unite great thinkers, tinkerers, dreamers and creatives to better understand how to unleash the region’s innovation agenda – essentially launching “what comes next” in the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Math) fields and other vital disciplines. Specific events for the day include a “disruptors discussion” that will dive into the concept of disruptive innovation, a business idea pitch competition, and a social innovation competition in partnership with People’s Liberty and MORTAR Cincinnati. The event will also unleash the concept behind UC’s new Innovation building “1819” (the old Sears Building).
Just as academic rigor, experiential education and diversity are fundamentally part of who we are and what we do as a university, so too must innovation continue to be ingrained in us. It’s that important. And this innovation summit isn’t a one-off event. We envision Next Lives Here as an annual gathering to celebrate our advancements and continually enrich our innovation culture. The event is free and open to the public, and we hope you can join us. Go to http://nextlivesheresummit.com/ to register today.
