We are playing defense based on old industrial economy rules and systems. We must play offense to create a 21st century innovation economy in which all citizens can fully participate. A new national economic development conversation should bubble up from cities.
Cities should be living labs. If cities become innovation hot spots, new investment and jobs will be created. We need ongoing R&D for new transformative models and systems. Developing a 21st century innovation economy depends on it and would also enable solutions for the big system challenges we face, such as health care, education, workforce development, and energy sustainability. These are system challenges that will not be fixed with incremental tweaks. We must design, demonstrate, and deploy new system approaches to these challenges. And the solutions should be coming from our cities.
It is humans and the organizations we live in that are both stubbornly resistant to change. The silos and systems we are stuck in have evolved over a long period of time. They are well-intentioned but fossilized, not capable of disrupting themselves to take advantage of those new technologies to enable new solutions and better value for citizens, students, and patients. We need a new model for showing that alternative approaches work in the real world and can scale. We have to create the environment and platforms that can enable that systems-level experimentation and change.
Needed: Urban Innovation
25 Nov
This entry was published on November 25, 2011 at 8:46 pm. It’s filed under Uncategorized and tagged cocreation, creative hubs, Gary Hustwit, innovative city, Living Labs, new business model, Raúl Álvarez González, Rise of the creative class, social innovation, urban innovation, Urbanized.
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