Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to meet with Nation Hahn, a UNC '08 graduate and the Director of Engagement at New Kind in Raleigh, North Carolina. As my independent study has evolved I have begun to focus more on innovation in the broader sense- yes, I love to read and write about the future of technological innovation, but I am also interested in innovation from a geographical perspective. Nation and I discussed Raleigh's future as a start-up hub, something that I now have a great deal of faith in. New Kind is built around an interesting concept. Their website explains "some might call us a communications agency, a design studio, even a management consulting or innovation strategy firm." I wouldn't be surprised if in the future more agencies promoted themselves in a similar way, boasting a diverse skill set and working on a broad range of projects simultaneously. One of the primary reasons I became interested in New Kind was after reading about their work with CAM Raleigh, which is the local Contemporary Art Museum. I appreciated the aesthetic of a lot of their CAM collateral: The opening of Raleigh's Contemporary Art Museum is one of the many exciting things happening in the RTP (Research Triangle Park) area. Nation explained that some entrepreneurs are starting to look to settle outside of the typical NYC//Silicon Valley landscape, providing the opportunity for a third start-up hub to sprout in the United States. He explained that Raleigh, Las Vegas and Austin are all viable options, and we discussed how Raleigh's entrepreneurial roots set it apart (thanks to the pharma giants of RTP). The Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area has and undeniably strong pool of students, with three acclaimed universities (N.C. State, Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill) within a 30 minute drive. As an added bonus, all three of these universities are currently investing in entrepreneurial programs for their students. I am in the Entrepreneurship minor at UNC, which has given me immense insight into the young company culture and has made me very excited for the future of the RTP area. I am currently enrolled in a scientific entrepreneurial ventures course, in which we have spent a large part of the semester focusing on local pharmaceutical start-ups. In my opinion, the innovation cycle of the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill area will be discussed in two parts: the first being the wave of pharmaceutical giants that settled in the area in the late nineties. These companies gave the triangle area the legitimacy that was necessary for investors to focus on the area. I believe the second wave of this innovation cycle will be a much younger, more innovative go round. With companies such as Red Hat and ShareFile bringing a tech-oriented start-up culture to Raleigh, more specialized companies such as Ignite Social Media were able to gain traction. As part of my Tech Thoughts blog I am beginning this Innovation Leaders speaker series, in which I will focus on leaders of the second wave of innovation in the RTP area. Up next I will be featuring Kimberly Jenkins, Senior Advisor to the President and Provost for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Duke University. She is coming to speak to the UNC Women in Entrepreneurship group on April 3rd. Looking forward to it!
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Started restructuring this site on 12/24/2011 by adding this page. It will mainly consist of technology ramble and things that you probably won't read.
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