In the News -
December 2007
Breakthrough Solutions:
Breakthrough Solutions: How hot is your community - Creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation
"Creativity pervades our every moment. We enjoy movies, books, songs,
well-crafted objects, witty sayings or the small creative touches that beautify
or simplify our lives. Women and men caught in dull jobs all week prepare superb
dinners for friends on the weekend, tell fantastic stories to their children,
design clothes, play music, or construct an addition to their house.
Sometimes people with similar gifts live in the same community, drawn
together by an academic center or industrial enterprise, and the region becomes
known as a creative hub, such as Silicon Valley, or cities and regions known for
their pottery, furniture, or music.
Sometimes, lightning strikes and a certain group or
community seems to have it all happening at once. As the hub for a dazzling
array of creative activities, it is recognized as extraordinary by both its
contemporaries and the judgments of history. These hothouse groups, in which
creativity flourishes wildly and magnificently, produce results that neither
nature nor the usual round of human activity could ever anticipate."
In this quote, Barton Kuntsler, author of "The Hothouse Effect," describes
the importance of creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in this
time of rapid change. Kuntsler did us all a big favor by studying the most
innovative communities throughout history, defining what he calls "The Hothouse
Effect," and sharing his insights with us.
He defines communities that generate the hothouse effect as having the
ability to:
- Sustain a high level of innovative creativity for a significant
period of time,
- Draw on the knowledge and innovations of the broader culture to
which it belongs,
- Spawn geniuses whose achievements exceed the work of many other
practitioners at all levels of achievement, from the brilliant on down
to the work-a-day purveyor of common goods.
- Establish a new way of doing things that informs its creative
products and establishes new standards and principles in a variety of
fields, and
- Achieve recognition and establish a lasting legacy to which future
generations continually return and seek to copy.
Although most communities and organizations will not be able to realize such
extraordinary heights, we need to learn from his insights. The future of our
communities may depend on it.
Our strategic questions for the day:
- Which do you think is most likely to be successful in the global,
connected economy over the next 10 years- a traditional manufacturing
community or a community known for entrepreneurship and innovation?
- On an innovation scale of one to 10, 10 being the highest, how
would you rate your community, organization, or business?
Finally, it’s helpful to look at our competition. We recently learned
that China has once again broken the rules. It’s bad enough that we have to compete with Chinese
workers who earn three cents for every dollar we earn. Now, China is encouraging
innovation by reducing sentences for prisoners who create innovative products.
According to "InformationWeek" and ShanghaiDaily.com, Convicts at the
Tilanqiao Prison can get their sentences reduced simply by inventing a new
technology, something several hundred prisoners have done over the past 14
years.
"To date, 132 projects have won prizes at different science and technology
competitions, and the winners without exception were convicts," stated Xie
Xiaoming, the prison official in charge of the program.
"I am so grateful to the prison who set up the platform for us to show our
gifts," said an inmate surnamed Zhang. "I was granted a sentence reduction twice
and will be released next April."
If you would like information about how to help your community develop
through innovation and technology, contact your county extension office or visit
www.uaex.edu and select Business and Communities, then
VisionWorks Breakthrough Solutions. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of
the U of A Division of Agriculture.
December 14, 2007
By: Dr. Mark Peterson
Extension Professor-Community Development
(501) 671-2253
mpeterson@uaex.edu
Media Contact: Lamar James
Extension Communications Specialist
U of A Division of Agriculture
Cooperative Extension Service
(501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207
ljames@uaex.edu
Related Links
Editors:
This is the sixth column in a series of bi-monthly columns entitled Breakthrough Solutions. The columns will discuss how Arkansas communities, businesses, and regions can become successful in the global, knowledge-based economy. Dr. Mark Peterson coordinates the VisionWorks Breakthrough Solutions Program for the University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension Service in Little Rock.
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