Innovation at the grassroots
By Elaine Storey, Vanderhoof Omineca Express
September 16, 2008
Do you consider yourself an innovative thinker? Do you have concepts and ideas which you have not yet moved forward because there is no next step in place.
Now, thanks to a lecture series featuring Dr. Alan Cornford, the doors will be opened to innovation at the grassroots level. Let Dr. Cornford explain how to grow public/private partnership strategies that can create collaborative economic development.
Community Futures Development Corporation Stuart-Nechako and the College of New Caledonia - Nechako are pleased to present the ‘Innovation to Commerce’ workshop and lecture series featuring Dr. Alan Cornford as guest lecturer.
Dr. Cornford addresses these issues, makes the case why organizational capacity is important and provides a blueprint for a phased approach. The program is divided into several segments, all addressing specific needs, from research and development support, to the prototyping process - ensuring continual access to information for all-members of the community who wish to participate. This lecture and workshop series hopes to open the door to innovation at a grassroots level and create a platform for change and continued dialogue.
The first lecture is scheduled for Tuesday, October 7th, at 7 p.m. at the College of New Caledonia - Nechako Campus. It will be followed by the first of three workshops offered at CNC ‘Commercializing Ideas’ at 7 - 9 p.m. October 20th and 27th. Graham Stanley, Business Analyst, CFDC coordinator of the series and facilitator for two of three workshops on Innovation to Commerce says, “We have been told that economic renewal will rely in part on a grassroots approach: this series is planting the lawn.”
“This is a great opportunity to build capacity throughout the region,” said Keith Federink of CFDC Stuart-Nechako.
Charlyne Smilinski, also a series coordinator said, “We are very excited about presenting this concept to our communities. It could be the beginning of a community conversation that continues to grow as people see the inherent value of ‘thinking outside the box.’
Alan Cornford has senior management experience in business, academia and Municipal, Provincial and Federal levels of government. He excels in enterprise business architecture and process engineering and his management experience spans all levels of public and private partnerships from technology startups to large business enterprises. As assistant deputy minister his liaison office, responsible for transfer and research commercialization, was ranked first in North America.
For more than a decade in his more recent career, Alan has been developing, managing and investing in promising technology -related start-up company opportunities. His Innovation research has been undertaken with most of the provinces plus many of the top ranked universities in Canada. He has developed technology start-ups with industry including Telus and Microsoft.
“This lecturer speaks of innovation in a really clear fashion - It is truly the world of tomorrow. We hope people will come out for this lecture series,” said Smilinski, echoed enthusiastically by Maureen Mallais Regional Director CNC.
