The Next Industrial Revolution is the Innovation one...and It's Now.

As the tide of the latest technological revolution is crashing over the banks of entrepreneurship, a smaller wave is gaining force - and those who can ride it early will soon find themselves on top of a tsunami.

We are living the age of the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" - the age of machine learning and cloud technology. We've been building on the technological revolution for centuries - from the popularization of the steam engine in 1760s to mass production in 1870s, to automated production in the late sixties and until today, as new technologies emerge and optimize our capacity to problem-solve.

Even though our technology is extremely promising, it's somewhat disjointed. We hear about advances in AI, but these are usually contained to academic institutions, think tanks and AI development companies. To fill the gap, some cities have begun to think seriously about forming innovation ecosystems. For example, Providence, with eight higher education institutions and two hospital systems, is creating a new public-private-university partnership, the Urban Innovation Partnership, to collectively govern and develop two Innovation Districts within Providence(*). And while the rumblings are still fain, the time for the Innovation Revolution is now.

What do I mean?

As an entrepreneur, and through my work with local entrepreneurs, one thing we all share is loneliness - the lack of support (or perceived lack of it), the feeling of being in the eye of the hurricane. All the while, the key to success - collaboration (in the true sense of the word) is met with guarded skepticism. We do, after all, treasure our ideas for more than what they're worth. The underdog narratives, the hero complexes, these stick out in our minds, thinking we can do it alone. I wish more startup success stories focused on the power of connection, the power of whom you know, and the skill of leveraging networks and know-how. Without a network, we are left with a fragment, weakened ecosystem of players who don't talk to each other until it's too late. No one will steal your idea. They have their own. Ideas without execution are just hallucinations anyway.

Be the Host of the Party

I am interested in an alternative. I want to see leaders emerge from the crowd and stretch out the much-needed hand of collaboration. I want to see platforms, ecosystems, heck, universes of innovation that carry real gravitational fields, that pull entrepreneurs in, give them momentum, a sense of direction, real purpose. How many college kids are there, with billion-dollar ideas? And how many people are listening to them and connecting the dots for them? The ration is probably heavily weighted towards the former.

Creating diverse communities driven by the common purpose of innovating (quickly, cheaply) is no small task, but there are definitely vacancies that will be filled eventually - it all depends on how late you are to the party. Let's create platforms for people to meet, coach each other, offer guidance in a selfless way. Let's invite all the players - universities, government, influencers, innovation labs, businesses, even government, to play nice in the sandbox.

We may have to start at a grassroots level. We may have to unlearn a lot. But this is a party you want to be hosting. Because there's no line-up to get in. Yet.

The Innovation Revolution is not about sweeping changes. It's not about big, official, capital 'i' change. Rather, it's about working quickly, building momentum, testing, scaling, abandoning, tweaking, rebuilding. Stop chasing the next big thing - look right in front of you.

If you are interested in learning how to build an innovation network or think you have something to bring to the table, reach out!