In addition to the recent Innovation Camp at the University of Missouri, incubators are helping entrepreneurs develop new business all over the St. Louis area. At Washington University, the Skandalaris Center for Entrepreneurial Studies serves as a base for helping people connect their business goals with the community. Their IdeaBounce program provides a virtual portal for sharing ideas on their web site and hosts events that give people a chance to present them to a panel of community judges. InnovateVMS provides team-based mentoring at no cost.
GO! Network has a track that provides training and collaboration for budding entrepreneurs. The BEGIN New Venture Center has a unique, hands-on program for assisting start-ups. Both organizations were developed by St. Patrick Center to help professionals connect with the resources they need to grow successful businesses.
80 percent of success is just showing up. – Woody Allen
On the first day of the Innovation Camp, I wandered into a presentation about Innovation Management by Brian Blanchard @brianblanchard. Brian is the chairman and founder of the event, and I was very impressed with his drive and energy. On the second day, Matt Ridings @techguerrilla had the coveted role of sharing Is My Idea Worth Money? I @carenlibby sat in on a 5-camper panel that included Mark Cummuta @triumphcio, Dan Davison @bizmanualz, Brad Hogenmiller @javastl and Ryan Bell @rjb227s. We focused on Innovation Experience, a discussion about the personal and professional challenges of pursuing the next best thing.
In this month’s issue of Fast Company, the feature story is about The World’s Most Innovative Companies. Facebook is #1, and I think it’s because that platform gives individuals and companies a more creative, visual way to connect and express what they’re all about. As much as I gained from the knowledge that was imparted at the Innovation Camp, it’s the dynamic individuality of the presenters and participants that will stay with me the most. Fortunately, those connections continue through social media. It’s all very timely, don’t you think?
You can read the latest news and discover links to presentations from the camp by conducting a Twitter search on the hash tag #stlinnovate.
Not all those that wander are lost. – J.R.R. Tolkien
