Know it to Grow it

The Innovation Center has been following the concept of Economic Gardening for many years now.  The idea is based on growing your own economy instead of recruiting and retaining.  While we're not suggesting a replacement for traditional economic development theories, we are suggesting an add-on to the work already done by economic developers in the area.  In fact, we've invested in economic gardening resources since 2008 to assist entrepreneurs in the area through competitive business intelligence. 

I recently attended a conference hosted by the Oklahoma Department of Commerce titled Energizing Entrepreneurship.  The idea behind the conference was to spread the idea of entrepreneurial economic development strategies to small communities across Oklahoma.  The attendees included chamber directors, main street directors, economic development officials, mayors, college faculty and entrepreneurs.  The presenters gave an overview of the importance of entrepreneurship to the economy. 

The conference spanned over three 12-hour working days followed up with group presentations on what we learned.  Our group decided to skip the usual power point and do a game show, modeled after the hit show 'Minute to Win It'.  Our game show was titled 'Know it to Grow it'.  The contestants (myself and a lovely lady from Norman) had to perform a multitude of challenges with limited supplies and time.  The point behind the challenges was to paint a picture of how difficult it can be to get an entire community on board with a new idea.  Our first challenge was to gather the members of the community together.  This was represented by whisking cotton balls into a corral.  After getting everyone together, we had to get everyone on board the 'E-ship'.  This was done by sucking the cotton balls up with a straw and dropping them in the boat.  We then proceeded to develop goals and objectives with the team on the E-ship to propel entrepreneurship into our communities. 

The most amazing part of the experience is I now have an opportunity to take the game show and turn it into a reality through the Innovation Center.  Our center is proposing to go out into the communities of northeast Oklahoma and create an entrepreneurship corridor, one community at a time.  This will be accomplished through strategic planning sessions with community leaders to develop work plans which promote entrepreneurship.  The Innovation Center services won't change drastically, but current business intelligence resources will be used to teach communities 'how to fish' so to speak. 

Needless to say, cotton balls and straws will not be involved!  So many amazing opportunities can come from this entrepreneurship corridor and I look forward to the possibilities.