The Institute for Emerging Issues will work with five North Carolina cities that have been selected to participate in a new program called InnovateNC. The innovation-focused economic development initiative covers two years and includes multiple partners.

Asheville, Greensboro, Pembroke, Wilmington/Carolina Coast, and Wilson were selected from 18 proposals submitted to the institute, which is based at North Carolina State University.

“All 18 applicant communities had terrific ideas and vision,” IEI director Anita Brown-Graham said in the announcement. “The five InnovateNC communities were selected because each has the right mix of assets, is fully committed to collective impact and to making major gains in building and sustaining innovation, and is ready to engage in the collaborative. IEI and our partners look forward to working with these communities over the next two years.”

Highlights of the selected proposals:

  • Asheville: Application submitted by The Collider in collaboration with the Asheville Hub, Economic Development Coalition (EDC)/Venture Asheville, and the City of Asheville. The team cited innovation and teamwork as the foundation of the city’s booming economy. By participating in InnovateNC, they will grow the city’s emerging environmental and climate science industry sector.
  • Greensboro: Submitted by the Greensboro Partnership, which includes the Greensboro Partnership for Economic Development, Chamber of Commerce, Action Greensboro, and Entrepreneur Connection. Recognizing the relatively untapped innovation potential of Greensboro’s diverse population, the team’s InnovateNC objective is to create a “culture of inclusive innovation” while building upon the city’s efforts to become a “Maker City” for the 21st-century global economy.
  • Pembroke: Submitted by the University of North Carolina at Pembroke in collaboration with the Town of Pembroke, Lumbee Regional Development Association, Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina, and local business leaders. The team will leverage InnovateNC to build upon its entrepreneurial resources while using the diversity and heritage of the region to create a distinct innovation district.
  • Wilmington and the Carolina Coast: Submitted by the Wilmington City Council in collaboration with New Hanover County, University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Marine Bio-Technologies Center of Innovation, Town of Leland, Brunswick County, NC Biotech Center SE Office, and Brunswick Community College. The team plans to use InnovateNC as an opportunity to strengthen the region’s emerging innovation ecosystem in the marine and life sciences.
  • Wilson: Submitted by the City and County of Wilson in collaboration with a local leadership network. By participating in InnovateNC, the City intends to develop an inclusive entrepreneurial economy while retaining its rich community character. The team will build on local assets including the community-owned Greenlight Gigabit Network.

What’s the program all about?

From Institute for Emerging Issues:

A new model of innovation is emerging: one defined by core clusters of leading-edge anchor institutions and cutting-edge innovative firms surrounded by a wider innovation-sustaining ecosystem.

The Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University is partnering with a powerful group of public, private, and nonprofit entities to launch InnovateNC: A Cross-City Learning Collaborative. The intensive two-year collaborative will allow up to five North Carolina communities outside of the Triangle and Charlotte to build and sustain their local innovation ecosystems on this model. By actively sharing best practices and widely disseminating results, InnovateNC intends to help scale innovation gains to other North Carolina communities.

The participating communities will each be represented by a local Innovation Council. Experts will guide and support the local councils through an intensive two-year collaboration that includes regular cross-city meetings to focus learning and build relationships; detailed local asset mapping and data collection to support decision making; knowledge sharing; policy analysis; and site tours. Local ICs will meet monthly beginning fall 2015.

Why focus on innovation? Innovation is the modern economy’s fuel. As the primary source of new technologies, products, services, and practices that yield value, innovation is what creates new industries, makes existing ones globally competitive, and sustains economic growth and improved societal well-being. To grow the economy and improve North Carolinians’ economic well-being, we must increase our overall ability to be innovative, and spread that ability to as many NC communities as possible. Communities lacking innovation strength will experience comparatively lagging GDP growth, average annual wages, and per-capita personal income.

Partners in the program include: NC State University’s Institute for Emerging Issues and College of Design; Forward Impact; the UNC System; Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy; UNC Chapel Hill’s Kenan Institute for Private Enterprise and Department of Public Policy; RTI International; UNC-TV; the Council for Entrepreneurial Development; the Research Triangle Foundation; and the NC Board of Science, Technology & Innovation.

Funding for the program is being provided through a grant from the Kenan Creative Collaboratory, an initiative of the four Kenan Institutes.