Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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GET READY! THE 2012 RUN IS COMING DECEMBER 15 5K RUN/WALK in Memory of Ryan Kishbaugh Register by Nov. 30th to guarantee a T-shirt (Last year was a sell out!) Proceeds go to Ryan's Foundation and other charities providing services to children and cancer patients. SATURDAY, DECEMBER 15th Starts at Medical Arts Building Field Online registration ends by December 14th www.runbecauseyoucan.com or www.active.com 1RZ RQOLQH Flip our pages for news, views art and entertainment! www.upandcomingweekly.com Call and ask one of our marketing representatives to help you grow your business. 484-6200 Innovation: What Do You Mean? by D.G. MARTIN "Innovation is the key." We are hearing these words of wisdom all the time, aren't we? And we nod our heads in agreement, remembering our pocket computers and communication devices that we still call phones. Or The Walking Classroom is an example of how innovation how the 3D technology and can make a difference. programs of North Carolinawith a year's worth of lectures. based Geomagic make Brown-Graham is optimistic about possible the on-demand manufacture the innovation capabilities of the one-of-a kind products based on generation just entering college. They the special 3D design plans from are risk takers and programmed to be Geomagic's software. innovators. However, they don't have But does the word have meaning the support networks, experience in to us ordinary humans who are not small business, or the financing to make geniuses like Apple's Steve Jobs or their innovations a business success. Geomagic's Ping Fu? Dan Gerlach, president of the At a recent discussion on innovation Golden Leaf Foundation, agreed and at the AdvantageWest Economic emphasized the need for sources of Summit in Asheville, I asked panelists funding for the effective exploitation of to explain what innovation means and innovations in a commercial context. illustrate with an example. Gerlach described an unusual Their varied answers helped me innovation in the location and understand that there is a place for construction of a wave-making innovation in almost every workplace. machine in the Nantahala River Mike Adams, president of Moog Music Inc., the high-tech manufacturer in Swain County. That innovative idea, when brought to reality, drew of the Moog music synthesizers, noted thousands of people to the region for the innovations that had swept by in this year's Freestyle Kayaking World his lifetime in rapid long-distance Cup Championship. communication: Telephone and Charlotte's Mark Erwin, former telegraph replaced mail, which was U.S. ambassador to Mauritius, an replaced by telex, which was replaced island off the coast of Africa, used that by fax, which is being replaced by country as an example of innovation. emails, which are being replaced by a In 1976, when the island gained its variety of innovations. independence, it was one of the poorest "I try to think like a 12-year-old. They countries in the world, almost totally are thinking, what is next?" he said. dependent on a sugar plantation For Anita Brown-Graham, director economy. When the new leader took an of North Carolina's Institute for Emerging Issues in Raleigh, innovation economic inventory of his country, he found there was almost nothing, only is not so much about mere good ideas. An innovation to her is an idea that can 1.3 million mostly uneducated people. Since the people were the country's be applied to meet an unmet need. only resource, the leader declared that Brown-Graham described a teacher education would be free for everyone. in Chapel Hill who found it hard to "That was innovation," said Erwin. get her students' attention after lunch. "Today it is the most prosperous But if she let them first go to the country in Africa, with the highest playground, they came back refreshed literacy rate, a huge Information and alert. The teacher wanted to give Technology center, much tourism and her students stimulating exercise. She a thriving textile industry." also wanted to preserve serious class These different examples of time. By innovating, she did both. She innovation suggest that, since there recorded her lectures for the postare an untold number of unmet lunch class, gave each kid a listening needs, there are an equal number of device and took them for a 35-minute opportunities for innovation. Just walk while they heard her recording. waiting for some of us Her innovation met her need. It is also to exploit. meeting the needs of other teachers through The Walking Classroom D.G. MARTIN Columnist. COMprogram that makes available a MENTS? Editor@upandcominWalkKit listening product preloaded gweekly.com. 16 UCW DECEMBER 12-18, 2012 WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM