Innovation Gainesville

In case you missed the Chamber's event last night, here's a taste of the Innovation Gainesville plans unveiled. The big idea: Collaboratory for Connected Innovation.

A summary is below, but if you haven't already reviewed the bottoms-up process used to link all of Gainesville's business and innovation ecosystem, you can see the detail here.

Transforming Gainesville’s assets to Compete in the Global Economy
The Objective and Challenge:

Can Gainesville transition its current economic focus to a more competitive, knowledge-based economy for all of our citizens? How can we engage the University and other knowledge providers – public and private sector alike – to transform the way we do business, retain students and graduates, and expand the resources necessary to enhance our quality of life?

Can we overcome limitations – in both mindset and the way we measure success – by adopting new metrics?

Can we tell our story better – about our successes, assets and individual endeavors? Yes we can. And we will.

Addressing the Challenges:

In less than six months, more than 200 individuals worked together in an unprecedented approach to create and prioritize Fundamental Actions for Implementation.

Through an initial research phase, including data analysis and defining our unique assets, rich and robust targets of opportunity were identified on which to grow a new generation of jobs and startup enterprises, and to attract the best minds and ideas to Gainesville.

In turn, we determined barriers limiting our success and agreed to collaborate on resolutions.

THE BIG IDEA: COLLABORATORY FOR CONNECTED INNOVATION

A Big Idea implies that there is only one solution to improve our economic competitiveness through being an innovative community. For Greater Gainesville, THE Big Idea is one that culminates months of discussion and informal debate on several options to not just ‘brand,’ but to create and connect assets and people in ways that attract external investment, resources and recognition.

The Innovation Advocates – our leadership of scientific, technological, civic, academic and student representatives – have concurred that there is one objective for our Big Idea: to transform our individual knowledge into a first-ever ‘community laboratory’ and connect our rich and abundant capabilities for specific and measurable results.

In areas of Health Technology and Green Technology, this community Collaboratory will bring together an interdisciplinary set of experts, market-makers, inventors and investors to design and launch new products and services.

This is not another incubator. By leveraging our Sid Martin, GTEC, Santa Fe CIED and Innovation Hub facilities, the Collaboratory will operate by the highest common interests and accelerate a solution. Gainesville minds will be working to solve national and regional grand challenges in areas of business, industry, society and commucnity development.

At no time in Gainesvilles’s history have all the technologies, skills-sets, institutions, and innovative minds aligned as we now find in the Knowledge Road Map and the Collaboratory. Solving both routine and unique challenges through a connected innovation team will be our brand and our message!

MOMENTUM AND SPARK: OUR JUMP-START PLAN

The Knowledge Road Map has more than 30 unique tactics and strategies to expand economic opportunities for all our citizens and future generations. But no community can focus on such a broad portfolio immediately. Therefore, Innovation Advocates and Action Teams have prioritized the most critical next steps into a Jump-Start Plan that calls for:

Measurable results in the first year
The creation of a new organizational platform through which to sustain our work, and most vital to ensuring that Greater Gainesville continuously benefits from the Road Map
Metrics and outcome briefings, reports and online materials to engage every parent, student, teacher, faculty member, CEO, staff member, community leader and elected official – the entire range of our region!