Released Dec. 14, 2007
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- "Creativity pervades our every moment. We enjoy movies, books, songs, well-crafted objects, witty sayings or the small creative touches that beautify or simplify our lives. Women and men caught in dull jobs all week prepare superb dinners for friends on the weekend, tell fantastic stories to their children, design clothes, play music, or construct an addition to their house.
Sometimes people with similar gifts live in the same community, drawn together by an academic center or industrial enterprise, and the region becomes known as a creative hub, such as Silicon Valley, or cities and regions known for their pottery, furniture, or music.
Sometimes, lightning strikes and a certain group or community seems to have it all happening at once. As the hub for a dazzling array of creative activities, it is recognized as extraordinary by both its contemporaries and the judgments of history. These hothouse groups, in which creativity flourishes wildly and magnificently, produce results that neither nature nor the usual round of human activity could ever anticipate."
In this quote, Barton Kuntsler, author of "The Hothouse Effect," describes the importance of creating a culture of entrepreneurship and innovation in this time of rapid change. Kuntsler did us all a big favor by studying the most innovative communities throughout history, defining what he calls "The Hothouse Effect," and sharing his insights with us.
He defines communities that generate the hothouse effect as having the ability to:
- Sustain a high level of innovative creativity for a significant period of time,
- Draw on the knowledge and innovations of the broader culture to which it belongs,
- Spawn geniuses whose achievements exceed the work of many other practitioners at all levels of achievement, from the brilliant on down to the work-a-day purveyor of common goods.
- Establish a new way of doing things that informs its creative products and establishes new standards and principles in a variety of fields, and
- Achieve recognition and establish a lasting legacy to which future generations continually return and seek to copy.
Although most communities and organizations will not be able to realize such extraordinary heights, we need to learn from his insights. The future of our communities may depend on it.
Our strategic questions for the day:
- Which do you think is most likely to be successful in the global, connected economy over the next 10 years– a traditional manufacturing community or a community known for entrepreneurship and innovation?
- On an innovation scale of one to 10, 10 being the highest, how would you rate your community, organization, or business?
Finally, it’s helpful to look at our competition. We recently learned that China has once again broken the rules. It’s bad enough that we have to compete with Chinese workers who earn three cents for every dollar we earn. Now, China is encouraging innovation by reducing sentences for prisoners who create innovative products.
According to "InformationWeek" and ShanghaiDaily.com, Convicts at the Tilanqiao Prison can get their sentences reduced simply by inventing a new technology, something several hundred prisoners have done over the past 14 years.
"To date, 132 projects have won prizes at different science and technology competitions, and the winners without exception were convicts," stated Xie Xiaoming, the prison official in charge of the program.
"I am so grateful to the prison who set up the platform for us to show our gifts," said an inmate surnamed Zhang. "I was granted a sentence reduction twice and will be released next April."
If you would like information about how to help your community develop through innovation and technology, contact your county extension office or visit http://www.uaex.edu and select Business and Communities, then VisionWorks Breakthrough Solutions. The Cooperative Extension Service is part of the U of A Division of Agriculture.
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http://www.uaex.edu/news/december2007/1214peterson.htm
Contacts: Dr. Mark Peterson, (501) 671-2253, mpeterson@uaex.edu
Lamar James, (501) 671-2187 or (501) 753-0207, ljames@uaex.edu
