Ruta N, a unique hub in Latin America

Interview with Paulina Villa, Innovation District Manager.

What distinguishes Ruta N from other innovation districts/hubs?

• City level: Ruta N is a unique hub in Latin America mainly because it is the only model created by the public sector in a city level. Opposite to other models in the region boosted by the national level or the private sector alone. Being a municipal allows the efforts to be focused on a very small part of a territory that you know better instead of spreading your efforts along the country with little knowledge of the dynamics of each region. In our everyday job this is translated into programs such as “Disruptive business” that aims to solve the needs or challenges of Medellin creating new business models to solve those needs and calling the private sector to participate in the new companies created.An example of that is PITS (Platform of Innovation in Heath Transactions). This platform solves the problem of information regarding a patient by putting it in a secure software that allows hospitals and physicians to access the medical record of a person that is treated in case of need.

• Institutional cohesion: The model allows Ruta N to be an articulator between the different stakeholders in the city’s ecosystem. Medellín also has a long tradition of collaboration between companies, universities, citizens, and public sector. This characteristic speed up the process of creating new businesses.An example of this is Committee of University, Public and Private Sector which reaches its 172 meeting since the beginning of the XXI Century. In these monthly meetings, we discuss as a society the different projects we are working on and how to push them forward. Tecnnova is a result of that, an institution created in 2007 the bridge gap between what universities in the city are researching on and what the companies are requiring in terms of R&D.

• Public funding: creating an institution like Ruta N and funding it with public budget approved by the City Council make this bet sustainable on time. We have seen that creating knowledge-based economies are a long run and as a society, you must create the best model to last. Other cities or countries in Latin America have not reached the point we have simply because they have not persisted over time.

How are you organized? What is your business model?

We are an organization with a strategy called DNA.

D stands for Development, and under this dimension, we run a variety of programs to support the creation and growing of new innovative companies in the city.

An example of this is our “Innovation Lab” which is a methodology and a space to help an organization (not necessary an already created company) to go from an idea to a functional prototype. During 2018, 258 organizations have gone to through this program creating 1.304 prototypes and 3.390 people have been trained in Innovation methodologies.

N stands for the solution of city´s Needs: in order to solve these needs, Ruta N has worked with the innovation ecosystem by creating a model to solve the challenges.

An example of an “N” program is MiMedellin which is a platform of E-Government and have structured more than 100 challenges and drafted its solutions for the city decision makers.

A means Attraction, and the programs done there seek to close the gaps in specific topics in the city. An example of this is the mandate of the City to improve our innovation capacities in Healthcare, Energy, and ICT. Since 2012 the landing program has attracted more than 260 companies in those 3 sectors from 31 countries around the world bringing new capacities and knowledge to the city in those fields.

How do you work with innovation across sectors?

This is what we try to do by having the CUEE which have the participation of every major company or university in the City. So, as shown above, we have the belief that only with the “triple helix” (Universities, Public Sector, and Privet Sector) things can happen in ICT.

Which exciting projects are you currently working on or have planned for 2018/2019?

Our biggest bets for 2019 is Ruta N 2. In order to begin the consolidation of the innovation district, we need more facilities to accommodate the arriving companies. That’s Ruta N 2: 40.000 sqm dedicated to our landing program. This new facility has to be developed by the real estate sector and we right know to structure the project that must be completed in 2021.

What challenges are you currently facing in the development of the innovation district?

In terms of the urban development is difficult to seduce the private sector to invest in the construction of new buildings mainly because there is a high risk perceived by the private sector due to the behavior of innovative companies.

What is your vision for Ruta N?

I believe that Ruta N has to contribute to the improvement of the quality of life of the inhabitants of Medellín through Science, Technology, and Innovation in an inclusive and sustainable manner. That is why we have the goal that by 2021, innovation is the main driver of the economy and the welfare of the city. Then, it will only be achieved through the articulation of the STI ecosystem to transform the city towards a knowledge economy.

Læs mere her

Manchester, fra industriby til innovationshub

Manchester er Englands tredje største by og verdenskendt både for sin fodboldkultur og tiden som beskidt industriby. Hvad, de færreste måske ved, er, at Manchester også huser et af verdens førende innovationsmiljøer inden for Advanced Materials og Life Sciences.

I 2007 blev innovationsdistriktet Oxford Road Corridor etableret i den sydlige del af byen, hvor fem ledende aktører gik sammen. Det har skabt nye samarbejder, vækst og konkurrencekraft i bydelen. Vi talte med Frankie Baines, Assistant Partnership Manager i Oxford Road Corridor om udviklingen af innovationsdistriktet.

What distinguishes Oxford Road Corridor from other innovation districts?

Oxford Road Corridor is the beating heart of the Northern Powerhouse, with specialisms in Advanced Materials and Life Sciences. Manchester is the first city region in the UK to operate with a devolved Health and Social Care budget. The district benefits from Enterprise Zone status and five NHS University Hospitals which are linked to research and emerging businesses, making it the largest clinical academic campus in Europe.

How are you organised? What is your business model?

Oxford Road Corridor is constituted as a private limited company. The Board comprises five Company members (two Universities; NHS Trust; private sector developer, and the City Council). Other organisations represented are from the cultural sector and a science park operator. Senior leaders from across the city act as Directors of the company.

The member organisations contribute financially to fund a small team to manage the partnership and to develop strategy. There are five thematic sub-groups to support the delivery of the work, reporting into an Executive committee. They include, Employment and Skills, Health and Wellbeing, Place and Promotion, Culture, and Sustainable Transport.

How do you work with innovation across sectors?

Along the Corridor there are many examples of mixed-use sites which provide opportunity for Academics and Businesses to deliver innovation and collaborate, our sector specialisms are Life Sciences and Advanced Materials. Working examples of this include the University of Manchester’s investment in graphene and 2D materials. The innovation eco-system will have at its core the research focused National Graphene Institute and the more commercially facing Graphene Engineering and Innovation Centre.

Through Health Innovation Manchester we are able to deliver a needs-based approach to innovation across the Life Sciences sector. Through monitoring the implementation and progress of the prioritised interventions with the support of partners and academia, we are able to deliver health and social care innovations at pace and scale.

Which exciting projects are you currently working on or have planned for 2018?

For the first time in 20 years, Manchester will be the first city outside of the USA to host the World Health Congress. Taking place in March 2019, the congress anticipates 1,000 representatives from all sectors of healthcare including hospitals, health systems, pharmaceutical, medical device and biotech companies, academia and leading government agencies.

A site-specific Spatial Framework is currently in development which will sit alongside the wider Corridor Strategic Spatial Framework.

Oxford Road Corridor have commissioned a commercial consultant to deliver an initial feasibility study for an Arts and Culture event in 2019/2020. The work will consider how an event could animate spaces/public realm to increase footfall into our cultural venues, as well as take advantage of the partnership’s new branding.

A project to engage neighbouring schools for learners aged 12 – 14 is currently underway. The initiative provides an opportunity for children to learn more about the work of the Oxford Road Corridor partnership and sets a number of challenges for them to work in small groups to bring forward ideas and solutions.

Construction for Citylabs 2.0 is due to begin in October 2018 with completion expected in summer 2020. Citylabs 2.0 and 3.0 are expected to generate 750 jobs and increase economic growth by more than £100 million. Nestled within Manchester Foundation Trusts’ hospital campus, Citylabs 2.0 will become a national hub for data analytical businesses and precision medicine, offering Grade A office space and state of the art laboratory facilities.

What challenges are you currently facing in the development of the innovation district?

Land availability continues to be one of the biggest challenges we face in the continued development of the innovation district, however, our Strategic Spatial Framework acts as a guide for future development opportunities by providing a hierarchy of land uses with design and quality principles embedded.

What is your vision for Oxford Road Corridor?

By 2025, Oxford Road Corridor will be Manchester’s cosmopolitan hub and world-class innovation district, where talented people from the city and across the world learn, create, work, socialise, live and do business; contributing to the economic and social dynamism of one of Europe’s leading cities.

‘The most innovative square mile on earth’

‘The most innovative square mile on earth’

Sådan beskriver Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Kendall Square, innovationsdistriktet i Boston, Massachusetts, hvor bl.a. MIT holder til. Og hvordan bliver man så lige det? Den mest innovative ’square mile’ på planeten?

Det spørgsmål fik ØICC til at rette blikket mod Boston, hvor vi har talt med Sarah Eusden Gallop, bestyrelsesformanden for Kendall Square Association (KSA). Få svarene på, hvad der i Sarahs øjne gør Kendall Square til noget særligt. Hvilke udfordringer de har mødt på vejen og stadig slås med. Og bliv klogere på, hvor et af verdens mest veludviklede innovationsdistrikter er på vej hen.

Udviklingen af Kendall Square

Ifølge Sarah har innovation og kreativitet været en del af Kendall Squares DNA længe før, at det blev kaldt et innovationsdistrikt takket være aktiviteterne i og omkring MIT. I 2009 stod det dog klart, at hvis potentialet i Kendall Square for alvor skulle udnyttes, krævede det, at man samlede de mange aktører på tværs. Med opbakning fra MIT blev KSA grundlagt, og med det fik Kendall Square den nødvendige netværksskabende enhed, der ifølge Bruce Katz skal til for, at et område kan kalde sig et innovationsdistrikt.

Særlige karaktertræk

Kendall Square er ekstremt kompakt med 66.000 mennesker og mere end 1000 virksomheder stuvet sammen på meget lidt plads, heriblandt tech-giganter som Microsoft, Google og Facebook. Det er et område præget af iværksætteri, hvor universiteter og virksomheder samarbejder og omsætter forskning til ny forretning. ’That’s why BCG has called it the most innovative square mile on earth’, forklarer Sarah.

Kendall Square repræsenterer i dag mere end 30 sektorer, hvor de tre største er tech, life science og professional services. ’In the past, innovation took place mostly within sectors, but now we see that they’re starting to collaborate across industry boundaries’.

Kritiske udfordringer – kriterier for succes

Udefra ser alt ud til at gå godt i Kendall Square. Men, og der er et men, to udfordringer presser sig på. Den ene handler om en indad skuende virksomhedskultur. ‘In some of the companies, they’ve been extremely successful at creating very strong cultures, which tends to make them a bit self-oriented. It prevents the employees from going out into the district and naturally interact with the area. This is something we still wrestle with.’

Den anden udfordring drejer sig om stedets kvaliteter og autencitet. ’It needs to feel like an exciting place! Place-making is critical, and Kendall Square hasn’t been very good at this, until now. We’re starting to build residential buildings which will help make Kendall Square more authentic and vibrant with more people living there.’   

Kendall Square om 20 år – hvor er I på vej hen?

20 år fra nu, hvor ser du Kendall Square? Det tog kun Sarah et sekund at tænke over sit svar. ’We dream of creating a vibrant destination and neighborhood where people will thrive, live, work, play, and meet with other people – all day. A live-work-play environment for people and companies trying to advance their research and business.’

Vil du vide mere om Kendall Square? Så gå på opdagelse her.

Copenhagen Science City – innovation i hjertet af København

København kan noget, som andre metropoler misunder. Denne gang handler det hverken om massecyklisme eller rene havnebade. Men derimod om de relativt mange innovationsdistrikter byen rummer, som skaber vækst, nedbryder sektorsiloer og tiltrækker talent.

Sammensætning, størrelse og placering giver hvert innovationsdistrikt særegne styrkepositioner. Men det er ikke til at komme uden om, at samarbejde kan føre til fælles fordele. Sammen med tre af Københavns andre innovationsdistrikter har ØICC derfor skabt en fælles vision om at styrke økosystemet af innovationsdistrikter i Greater Copenhagen. Vi besøgte Copenhagen Science City, et af vores søster-distrikter.

Hvad adskiller Copenhagen Science City fra andre innovationsdistrikter?

Copenhagen Science City er især kendetegnet ved en række forskningsmæssige styrkepositioner. Det gælder bl.a. inden for kvanteteknologi, cancer, metaboliske sygdomme, bakteriologi, bioinformatik og nanovidenskab – alle områder med internationalt investeringspotentiale, hvor resultater og viden kan kommercialiseres og skabe vækst.

De mange muligheder for samarbejde mellem forskning og erhverv gør innovationsdistriktet til et usædvanligt godt sted at etablere nye forskningsintensive virksomheder og skalere de, der allerede er i området. I løbet af det seneste år har globale spillere som Microsoft, SingularityU Nordic og den japanske medicinalvirksomhed Daiichi Sankyo derfor også valgt at slå sig ned i Copenhagen Science City på grund af de mange muligheder, som innovationsdistriktet tilbyder.

Hvordan arbejder I med innovation på tværs af sektorer?

Det er usædvanligt, at tre så tunge forsknings- og uddannelsesinstitutioner som Københavns Universitet, Rigshospitalet og Københavns Professionshøjskole beslutter sig for at samarbejde for at blive en bedre partner for virksomheder. I regi af Copenhagen Science City har de tre et tæt og formaliseret samarbejde bl.a. med Københavns Kommune, Region Hovedstaden og lokale start-up fællesskaber. Alle projekter handler om, hvordan vi kan styrke samarbejdet på tværs af institutionerne, tiltrække internationale talenter, og ikke mindst gøre området til et attraktivt sted for både start-ups, scale-ups og modne virksomheder.

Hvilke spændende projekter arbejder I på, eller planlægger I for 2018?

Vi arbejder pt på at skabe mere plads for virksomheder og andre aktører, der kan styrke vores innovationsøkosystem. Målet er, at områdets fysiske rammer skal bidrage til, at folk kan udnytte deres fulde potentiale, så deres gode idéer omsættes til vækst, arbejdspladser og nye løsninger til nationale og globale udfordringer.

Vi er også ved at forberede os på de muligheder, som Metroselskabets nye Cityring vil afføde, og dens betydning for at videreudvikle innovationsdistriktet. Vi får tre stationer inden for gåafstand, hvilket betyder, at intet sted i innovationsdistriktet ligger længere væk end otte minutters gang fra en metrostation.

Hvad er jeres vision for Copenhagen Science City

Vores mål er at Copenhagen Science City i år 2024 vil være hjemsted for en af Europas stærkeste klynger af innovative virksomheder. Vores innovationsøkosystem omfatter mange af de funktioner, der er nødvendige for vellykket kommercialisering af viden. Det gør det til et af de mest attraktive steder i Europa at starte eller udvikle en innovationsbaseret virksomhed, da områdets fysiske rammer netop fremmer vidensdeling og tværfagligt samarbejde blandt de lokale vidensinstitutioner, innovationsmiljøer og virksomheder.

Læs mere om Copenhagen Science City her. http://copenhagensciencecity.dk/

Chattanooga Innovation District and The Enterprise Center, an unique innovation partnership

By Eugenia Payne, Program Manager,  The Enterprise Center, Chattanooga Innovation District  

What distinguishes The Enterprise Center from other innovation districts?
Chattanooga’s Innovation District (ID) is different than other innovation districts because others exist in larger cities that are anchored by higher education and research centers and extend somewhere between one to three miles. We have a smaller district that is not anchored by a major research center. Rather, at a 140-acre radius, the Chattanooga Innovation District anchor is the Edney Innovation Center (90,000 sq. feet, 10-story building) that consists of a variety of work spaces designed for workers and companies in the new knowledge economy. This thriving startup community continues to grow and has spread to other buildings in walking distance from the Edney. The walkable area of the ID contains public spaces, multimodal transportation and an array of eateries and coffee shops. In addition, Chattanooga is home to the largest metro-wide fiber optic network and some of the fastest internet speeds commercially available, so in many ways the Electric Power Board’s (EPB) fiber also serves an anchor for Chattanooga’s Innovation District.

How do you work with innovation across sectors?
We have a Smart City Collaborative that works together on smart city initiatives and projects to improve the quality of life and innovation economy in Chattanooga. The Collaborative’s partners include representatives from the City of Chattanooga, EPB (provider of 10 Gbps 600 sq. mile ubiquitous fiber), the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga (UTC), and a startup accelerator non profit called CO.LAB, and the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce continues to enhance economic opportunities for an array of businesses also focused on innovation and advanced communication networks.

CO.LAB and The Enterprise Center host events and programming throughout the year that engage community members across diverse sectors, so that they share ideas and collaborate—these collisions heighten the level of innovation in the ways that Chattanoogans are approaching business and research. For example, GIGTANK is a 12-week program for startups developing applications that thrive on high-speed, low-latency networks. The accelerator is designed for B2B and B2C startups, and GIGTANK invites entrepreneurs to test ideas in virtual reality, connected devices, streaming video, eGaming platforms, and more on Chattanooga’s lightning-fast 10 Gbps network.

Which exciting projects are you currently working on or have planned for 2018?
We have many exciting projects, so I will provide a few examples. The UTC campus connects to the Innovation District and there are more plans for UTC to grow programming and physical presence within the District. These plans are being formally released by The Enterprise Center as part of the Innovation District Framework Plan that is set for public release on March 20, 2018 and presents a community designed implementation plan for additional living and working spaces that feed accelerated growth in the startup and entrepreneurial ecosystem.

One of The Enterprise Center’s core strategies is improving digital literacy skills for community members who would not otherwise have access to devices nor the training in using their associated applications.

We have ongoing research initiatives involving big data research projects awarded by the National Science Foundation to UTC that involve real time applications related to underground infrastructure assessments and connected and autonomous vehicles.

The city of Chattanooga owns Miller Park in the heart of the ID, and major renovations are underway while the community is engaging in participatory design for ways to diversify use and animation of the space.

What is your vision for The Enterprise Center?
Our vision at The Enterprise Center is to see partners and community members working together more and more than ever before, so that they are collaborating on finding solutions to improve citizens’ everyday lives in areas of education, health, workforce skill development, transportation and cultural enrichment while building a competitive innovation ecosystem in which external industry and academia partners seek to have an active role.

Also here is an article with more background you might find helpful and our Innovation District website.

Smart Social City, a new approach for the 21st Century

By Erik Vittrup Christensen, CEO, Smart Social City 

How do you work as an innovation district /Smart City? 
Smart Social City (SSC) Global is relatively new company and is part of the Smart Knowledge Group (SK), based in Madrid, Spain. Our vision is to contribute to develop sustainable cities that can nurture and capture human talent ensuring life quality, vibrant cultures and inclusive, prosperous urban economies, with socially mixed population and mixed urban land use. This may be common practice in Europe, but in developing countries characterized by ghetto like class-based developments, this vision is still only a dream. Our city projects include as a core element the notion of “Cities for Innovation” by promoting smart solutions for services, governance and economies, including open social Innovation centers as public facilities as well as local entrepreneurship development. We work closely with local universities to promote linkages between the knowledge economy and the knowledge centers. And design models that prioritize human encounter, interaction and engagement.

Who are your partners? 
A core principle in our work is to ensure a solid anchoring with local partners, especially with local governments, local universities, local companies and local civil society. We do this through what we call Smart Social City Knowledge Centers that act as a meeting place, a place to expose knowledge and as our offices for the development of our projects. Our financial partners are found on the international capital markets and we have been positively surprised to discover the interest, among private investors from many countries, in innovative, socially inclusive urban development investments. We welcome more partners to join us, we believe our approach opens opportunities for many types of partners to evolve and test innovative solutions in urban development.

How do you work with sector innovation?
The founder of the company is a pioneer in the concepts of Open Social Innovation, as developed by Stanford University in the late 1980’es. He has transferred his vision to urban development, coupled with the principles of the New Urban Agenda of the Untied Nations. Our approach is not anchored in “sector” innovation as much as in integrated open social innovation. The point of departure is 6 achievements the city must muster: Urban Productivity, Urban Infrastructure, Urban Inclusion, Urban Equity, Urban Environment and Urban Governance. These dimensions are then unfolded in three areas: Smart, Social and City. Our approach to bring in innovation is through national and international competitions at all levels of the projects.

What projects are you currently working with? 
We are operating mainly in Mexico and Colombia with the development of large-scale (50Ha – 200Ha) fully integrated and innovative urban development projects. In Leon, Mexico we expect to launch the first of its kind this year and more cities are in the pipeline, including Guadalajara, Veracruz and Lazaro Cardenas in Mexico and Cali, Buenaventura and Yumbo in Colombia. The initial project investments are ranging from €200M to €500M

Who do you compare your organization with? 
We are actually looking around to see whom we can compare ourselves with but do really not find any of our kind. We do not represent a specific sector. We are facilitators, enablers and accelerators, more than actual real estate developers. Our modus operandi is to bring together talented organizations and companies towards a shared, socially engaged, private-sector driven vision.

How many partners or membership members part your organization? 
SSC has a large number of cities with whom we have signed partnership agreements with and more prominently we have an important partnership agreement with United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat). Besides we are partnering with a number of Universities and of course with a smaller number of financial investor groups. At the moment we are extending our partnerships with specialized companies on specific areas (Energy, construction, water management, recycling, IT, etc.)

How many are employed in your secretary? 
Our Secretariat in Madrid has a relatively small footprint with 10 people, but we are in the process of consolidating a larger operational framework in three countries that will include in 2018 around 50 core staff.

What is your vision? 
We envision that our development model will stimulate local skills, capacities and political will, to further build on the smart social solutions we bring through the large scale urban projects. We hope that our projects and smart solutions can be more than pilot project and contribute to new visions of cities where human talent is being fostered to ensure city prosperity and modern democratic, safe and stable cities that can survive the big challenge of the 21st century. This is where cities will by their level of competitiveness either prosper or decay in the global completion for survival, as cities double their population over the next 30 years and the struggle to attract investments and more talent.

Read more about the Smart Social City concept here.

Barcelonas innovationsdistrikt: 22@

Urbane innovationsdistrikter er blevet et internationalt fænomen. Lokalt forankret, men globalt inspireret skyder de op i storbyer verden over. I denne måned ser vi på erfaringerne fra 22@ Barcelona; et innovationsdistrikt, der i den grad er lykkedes med transformationen fra industri og forfald til hub for viden, vækst og innovation.

22@ ligger i kvarteret Poblenou tæt på Barcelonas centrum. Omkring år 2000 vedtog man en langsigtet strategi, der skulle revitalisere området. Parallelt med politiske beslutninger og urbane fornyelser etableredes klyngespecifikke og tværsektorielle netværk blandt bydelens aktører.

De tværsektorielle netværk er ligesom i ØICC inspireret af det man kalder Triple Helix modellen, som ifølge Bruce Katz’ The Rise of Innovation Districts er en af opskrifterne bag et succesfuldt innovationsdistrikt. Målet er at få kludetæppet af aktører fra universiteter, forskningsinstitutter, virksomheder, kulturinstitutioner, offentlige institutioner, start-ups, m.fl. til at mødes, vidensdele og indgå projekter sammen. Det er i dette møde, at det uforudsigelige opstår og nytænkning realiseres.

22@ er blevet en katalysator for vækst og innovation og har tiltrukket både universiteter, forskning, virksomheder, iværksættere samt internationalt talent. Og mens målet har været at udbrede erfaringerne fra Poblenou til resten af Barcelona, har resten af verden også fået øjnene op for innovationsdistriktet og inspireret byer som Rio de Janeiro, Boston, Istanbul og Cape Town.

Læs mere her.

Helsingborg: Fra ’smart city’ til ’smart citizens’

Greater Copenhagen er blevet en hub for nye vækst- og innovationsinitiativer. Og det gælder ikke kun på vores egen side af sundet. I Helsingborg er et spændende projekt ved at tegne sig. Et projekt, hvor innovation og bæredygtighed ikke kun tager udgangspunkt i fremtidens smarte teknologi, men i fremtidens ’smart citizen’.

Hvorfor ’smart citizen’? Helt kort, hvis byer bliver smartere end deres indbyggere, er de ikke længere byer for mennesker. Helsingborg skal være en by udviklet med mennesker, for mennesker.

I sidste uge havde vi i ØICC besøg af Johanna Olesen fra Öresundskraft, der arbejder aktivt i Helsingborgs byfornyelsesprojekt H+. Målet var at udveksle erfaringer og lære lidt om hinandens projekter og måder at arbejde med innovation, acceleration og by-laboratorier på.

Johanna fortalte bl.a. om deres omfattende indsats med at mappe trends, nye generationer, scenarie, m.m. for at forstå de mennesker, som Öresundskraft er med til at udvikle byen for. Projektet startede i 2016, og allerede nu kan du se nogle af resultaterne, der blev præsenteret på konferencen Future Citizen d. 3. maj 2017.

Et af de H+ projekter, du skal holde særligt øje med er RECOLAB – Helsinborgs ’Recovery Lab’. Det er tænkt som et både fysisk og virtuelt testområde i byen, hvor universiteter, private og offentlige aktører kan gå sammen om at udvikle nye teknologiske løsninger inden for vand, affald og energi. RECOLAB synliggør innovation i bybilledet og understøtter innovationskulturen i Greater Copenhagen.

Vil du vide mere om RECOLAB, så kontakt processleder Stefan Persson på stefan.persson@rhefab.se eller læs mere om planerne for H+ her.

St. Louis: Fra nedkørt industriområde til pulserende innovationsdistrikt

“Power now belongs to the problem solvers”. Sådan indleder Bruce Katz og Jeremy Nowak deres nye bog, The New Localism, hvori de beskriver den udvikling, der i stigende grad præger, ikke bare USA, men hele verden. Hvor komplekse globale udfordringer løses på byplan i innovationsdistrikter. Hvor lokale aktører på tværs af sektorer går sammen i nye konstellationer og netværk, deler viden og samskaber innovative løsninger.

Blandt de mange gode eksempler, som Katz og Nowak fremhæver, finder vi Cortex Innovation Community i St. Louis, USA. For at lære lidt mere om den rejse, som Cortex har været på de sidste 15 år, og som netop er påbegyndt i ØICC, kontaktede vi dem. Læs hvad direktør Dennis Lower svarede og bliv klogere på deres arbejde med tværsektorinnovation.

What distinguishes Cortex from other innovation districts?
“Cortex is a 200-acre industrial district that is being repurposed as a technology commercialization center. Today it is home to over 350 companies and 4,300 employees. We are focused on building a community of innovators through intentional programming and placemaking that helps break down company “silos” by facilitating interaction among district employees.”

How do you work with innovation across sectors?
“We work closely with our local universities and established companies within the district and host events and programs that largely target the Cortex startups. Our theory of practice for cross-sector innovation is to build and maintain the infrastructure that encourages innovation to emerge: buildings with multiple uses, programs that continuously attract new people, and a willingness to collaborate on complicated problems.”

What is your vision for Cortex?
“Innovation districts take decades to fully mature, and we just finished our fifteenth year. A challenge we are currently facing includes continuing to build the tech talent pool to supply our growing regional innovation workforce demand. Addressing this and other key challenges will allow us to maintain our momentum and achieve our vision: thousands of people living, working, playing and learning in and around Cortex, supporting the growth of a St. Louis regional innovation economy.”

Vil du lære mere om Cortex? Så læs mere her.