NC State University Institute for Emerging Issues: Collaboration Platform

So, I presented to the "Innovative Financial Tools [for] Renewable Energy" session as an advocate for Fostering Creativity - and what I found and spoke to was that of all the strategies, this was the one that, appropriately enough, linked the various and sometimes disparate ideas together.

Connectivity speaks to precisely the reason why we all came to the Forum in the first place: to share ideas, to create partnerships, to pool resources and to find solutions to common problems.

Whether the people in our room saw the solution to our common problems coming in the form of a technological solution, a Business-to-Business solution, an issue of Public-Private-Partnerships, a Peer-to-Peer (or polity-to-polity) financing network, or even a need to reach out to other nations for financial assistance, all of the groups spoke towards the importance of communication and connectivity in bridging the financial, creative and educational gaps present in our renewable energy finance structure.

Whatever the flavor it comes in, connectivity is a must for our common future. We talked a lot about North Carolina in the Forum, and that's entirely appropriate. But the problems we're solving and the juggernauts we're facing are not unique to North Carolina. Just like Governor Pawlenty said: we're not going to be the biggest, and we're not going to be the cheapest. We have to find our comparative advantage. As an economist, I know that finding and making the most of one's comparative advantage requires a knowledge of what others are doing, and a willingness to specialize, and to trade.

That means connectivity, on a local as well as a national and global scale. As one of my cohorts said in that breakout session: in this world of connections, we are seeing far too many silos.

The time has come for us to break down the walls that constrain us, and use those stones to build bridges their stead.

That's the only way to build a strong foundation for the tough times ahead.

One of the best conferences I have ever attended was on the state of the arts in North Carolina in Charlotte 3 years ago or so. The leadership, workshop, and ideas were fantastic as well as inspiring. The ideas were not just centered on the arts but we infused it with library services, innovative architecture, what does the 21st century look like, and we broke into groups to discuss these ideas with state representatives to teaching artists. This is how you build creativity by getting out there, taking risks, and changing based on those risks.