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By Linda F.
Jarrett
For many years, St. Louis has been heading toward a technological
crossroads, and Innovate St. Louis may provide the catalyst to complete
the journey.
An outgrowth of RCGA’s Technology Gateway Alliance, Innovate St.
Louis’ mission is to promote the entrepreneurial environment, and
forward the goal of making the St. Louis region a global hub of
innovation and technology by increasing the pool of technology-based
assets.
Dr. William Peck, RCGA Board Member and Director of the Center for
Health Policy at Washington University, has led the development
of Innovate St. Louis in his capacity as chairman of the RCGA’s
Technology Gateway Alliance.
“Innovation assets are basically individuals who are innovators
and entrepreneurs,” Peck says. “Ultimately, their activities lead
to the successful application of technologies to improve the human
condition.”
That, he says, can occur through the formation of new companies,
the modification and enhancement of existing companies, and achievement
in a not-for-profit sector, such as improvements in education and
healthcare.
“Innovation and entrepreneurship are not limited to the corporate
world,” Peck says. “They occur in all walks of human endeavors.”
Innovate St. Louis is an outgrowth of the Technology Gateway Alliance,
which was established by the RCGA in 1998 as a successor to its
then-Science & Technol-ogy Committee. RCGA President Dick Fleming
and the RCGA have worked closely with Dr. Peck over the past year
in the development of Innovate St. Louis.
“Innovate St. Louis’ core mission to enhance the entrepreneurial
and innovation environment will strongly complement the RCGA’s overall
regional economic development and deal-specific expansion and recruitment
efforts with individual entrepreneurial firms and venture capital
investors,” noted Fleming. Emphasizing the key resource which Innovate
St. Louis will play in the region's economic development, he observed
“It’s been said that effective economic development includes both
hunting and gardening; Innovate St. Louis will significantly add
to the region’s ability to grow entrepreneurial companies.”
Innovate St. Louis plans to achieve these goals in two ways.
“First, we will create new coalitions in particular technical areas,
which will advance the cause of innovation and entrepreneurship,”
Peck says “The first one which will be patterned, to a certain degree,
after the Plant and Life Sciences Coalition which has been quite
successful, will be the Information and Communication Technology
Coalition. It has already been initiated and Mark Showers, chief
information officer at Monsanto Co., is chairing this.
“An advisory board has been appointed, and a mission statement is
being written,” Peck says. “The idea is to promote information and
communication technology in the St. Louis region in multiple ways.”
The second avenue will be the formation of a “virtual” Center for
Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The Center will launch the “Springboard,” a formal advisory program
in which innovators and entrepreneurs are paired with advisory teams
that review and provide mentorship in all major aspects of a new
venture. This is patterned after a highly successful entrepreneurial
program in San Diego.
It will also create a “Beta” Network which provides opportunities
for innovators and entrepreneurs to receive training and incubate
pilot programs within larger corporations and not-for-profits.
Here, potential and actual innovators and entrepreneurs can find
mentors,” Peck says. “They will also receive guidance by identifying
networking possibilities, getting business advice, and getting access
to leadership training and financial support.”
Innovate St. Louis will also inventory innovative and entrepreneurial
activities in the St. Louis area and track them over time.
“For example,” Peck says, “start-up companies that are viewed as
entrepreneurial and innovative. We will continue to support the
plant and life sciences effort in collaboration with RCGA, and we’re
going to convene conferences and seminars including international
conferences in related areas that are related to various technology.
We define technology broadly as the application of science to human
betterment.”
The Operational Plan for the development of Innovate St. Louis gives
four reasons for forming this coalition.
| The economic
and social future of St. Louis depends in significant part
on the advancement of innovation-based technology. |
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| The undertaking
is timely in light of the new efforts by community leaders
to expand the regional economy. |
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| St. Louis
has made important strides in technology development. Its
universities, business, industry, civic and non-for-profit
assets provide an excellent foundation for substantial future
progress. |
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| Stimulating
and enhancing a culture of innovation and entrepreneurship
focusing on multiple technologies. |
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St. Louis
on the Move
St. Louis is well positioned to become a reckoning force in the
innovative technology field, and is gaining a respected reputation
with its excellent facilities. Recent studies conducted by Battelle
and other consulting groups have shown St. Louis to have the right
mix of ingredients to become a major player in innovation and entrepreneurial
activity. Besides its blossoming angel and venture capital capacity,
St. Louis hosts abundant incubator and post-incubator facilities.
“St. Louis has great universities and industries that are devoted
to innovation,” Peck says. “It has many civic advantages with foundations
that are oriented toward this activity.
“There is a general recognition that innovation and entrepreneurship
are essential ingredients for future economic and social success
in every community,” he says. “I talk to a lot of people and a lot
of leaders in the St. Louis region, and there is widespread appreciation
that this is a very important activity. We’ve already made great
progress in the area of plant and life sciences and information
and communications technology also.”
While St. Louis provides the home base for national/international
information and communications services such as AT&T, MasterCard,
Charter Communications, Boeing and Express Scripts, many in the
informational technology community agree that there is a need for
a more robust industry to attract companies and consumers to St.
Louis. This would aid in the development of new programs and create
wealth.
“I don’t know how St. Louis ranks in terms of innovative technology
cluster cities,” Peck says “but we rank at the top in terms of plant
sciences and were doing pretty well in life sciences as well. I
haven’t seen any rankings of innovative technology and communication
technology. We are strong, but we can be stronger.”
The Innovate Concept
Peck believes that America’s long-standing leadership in science
and technology innovation is in jeopardy.
“A number of studies disclosed that show America is not training
enough people in the technologies compared to other countries,”
he says. “And they’re catching up with us, particularly in the fields
of mathematics and engineering. This whole issue is detailed in
Rising Above the Gathering Storm, a study commissioned by
the National Academy of Sciences.”
While a number of congressional initiatives were undertaken following
publication of the study to support informational technology and
entrepreneurship, Peck says that he did not know if any had come
to fruition, although much discussion had taken place in Congress.
Cities need to take the lead in reversing this trend. Innovate St.
Louis was born out of the Technology Gateway Alliance which the
RCGA created in 1998.
“We went around the table and people thought that there was much
more that Tech Gateway could do,” Peck says. “So we did the process
of planning and what we came up with at the end of the day was Innovate
St. Louis. As the successor to Tech Gateway, I was kind of the catalyst
to get this done.”
Peck says that they patterned this coalition after various practices.
“The Plant and Life Science Coalition is the best practice and we
have several mentorship programs that served as patterns. Plus,
we looked at other cities, and we’re not shy about that.”
“We have had a very positive response,” Peck says. “It’s just the
beginning and, as someone said, we have ignition, now we need liftoff
and it’s happening as we speak. We’re hoping the board will have
a meeting in a couple of months to secure our financing and our
president.”
The board will consist of 15 or so persons, and one director will
serve as chairperson for two years with a vice chairperson also
for two years.
“The impact of innovation and entrepreneurship is long term,” Peck
says. “The first set of results is the successful organization and
implementation of these programs which I’m hoping will happen within
six months to a year. The Innovative Technology and Communication
Technology under Mark Showers’ leadership is already up and running.
“But,” he adds, “in terms of successful mentoring and the emergence
of start- ups, we’re talking about a long-term process.” |
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