April 2008

Searching For Innovation, Part I     

by Thomas E. Vass

Editor's Note: This is the first of a two-part series. Watch for the second half in the May issue's Finance Department.

Cornelius Vanderbilt, a steamship and railroad builder, used to say that he never knew where a good idea would come from, and therefore he was always open to listening to anyone who had a new thought. Large corporations are confronted with the same problem raised by Vanderbilt: Where do good ideas for their next generation of products come from?

As a result of more open global trading policies the basis of global competition has shifted from low-cost production to the ability of firms to innovate rapidly. But, the idea of innovating rapidly presumes that corporations know where to look to find good ideas that can be commercialized.  

North Carolina Innovation Economist Moderates National Teleconference on Innovation Economics

Raleigh, N.C., USA (SANEPR.com) April 11, 2008 -- The long-term economic woes of America were the topic of an April 10, 2008, national roundtable discussion sponsored by the Capital Formation Institute, an advocacy think-tank for innovation economics based in Virginia.
Thomas Vass, an innovation economic expert, located in Raleigh, N. C., was selected by CFI to act as one of the two moderators to lead the discussion for the national teleconference.
“America’s economic problems extend way beyond a mortgage debt crisis or the malaise in the entire credit market,” said Tom Vass. “America’s economic problems are structural and the genesis of the problems are poor economic leadership in the private financial and business networks. These are not problems that can be solved by politicians in Washington or state capitals.”