Innovation in Idaho

By Lori Richardson, Northwest Bureau Chief
Lori's Bio      Email article     RSS feed      Share on  facebook 

The state of Idaho has a great new organization to unite people and companies who are interested in innovation. The Idaho Innovation Alliance, just recently created at the end of 2007, is a statewide non-profit trade association for innovation-based companies.

The brainchild of a 33 member advisory group of Idaho-based technology companies, education, and government - this organization began after a successful Idaho Innovation Summit in October, 2007. One of the sponsors of Innovation In Idaho's website is Idaho TechConnect. TechConnect is an organization that accelerates Idaho's innovation-based economy by connecting people, ideas and resources through activities in 4 areas:

• Building an entrepreneurial culture,
• Promoting industry-university collaboration,
• Facilitating commercialization,
• Encouraging investment in infrastructure to support an innovation-based economy.

TechConnect began in 2002 and now has four locations around Idaho to serve its constituency. With a statewide board of directors, and four separate advisory councils, one of the goals for this organization is to provide and foster access to resources, especially the national laboratory and the universities. Idaho TechConnect's services are open to everyone with an innovative idea. Priority is given, however, to Idaho companies with a focus on technology.

My favorite feature on the Idaho TechConnect site is a fantastic "networking" page where one can find resources in four different parts of the state. Take a look at this page and think how your organization could help connect people to resources: http://www.idahotechconnect.com/Services/Networking/Northern_ID/. This is a fantastic way to connect others to help grow businesses, network people together, and make a difference in your community.

 

---

Reported by Lori Richardson, networking resource for the Northwest, including Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and Alaska. If you know of a great networking organization or "super connector" that Lori should know about, please email her. Lori helps B2B companies increase sales and ultimately, profits through Score More Sales, a sales effectiveness organization. She also works as a fundraising auctioneer and loves the Pacific Northwest.