Declaration of Innovation

Posted by:
Secretary Gregory Bialecki, Executive Office of Housing and Economic Development

We hold these truths to be self-evident:

1.    Innovation is our edge. For almost four hundred years, our economic prosperity and our quality of life have been advanced through technological and social innovation.  Innovation has always been, and still is, our fundamental competitive advantage.  Our innovations have benefitted the state, the nation and the world.

2.    Innovation is everywhere (Part I).  Our innovation instincts show up in every industry sector, from manufacturing to digital technology to life sciences to the creative economy, and also permeate our nonprofit and government sectors.

3.    Innovation is everywhere (Part II).  There are innovation success stories all over the state and indeed in our neighboring states as well.  We must keep in mind that innovation knows no bounds.

4.    The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.  Let’s face it, when it comes to innovation, we rock. That doesn’t mean we can’t improve (a lot) on what we are doing, but it does mean that we should stop wasting our time worrying about whether we are really in the big leagues. We are.

5.    Together we can. The keys to success for a Massachusetts innovation agenda will be local collaborations among business, academia and government and global collaborations with innovators from around the world.

Here within the Patrick Administration, we strongly believe that the Commonwealth must have a deliberate innovation agenda as a core element of our economic development strategy.  We will be using this blog to talk more about that agenda, but our objective is simple:  To create and sustain what is widely recognized as the most effective collaboration of industry, academia and government in support of technology and innovation in the world.

We hope you will join us.

Secretary Greg Bialecki

Comments

[Jim Smith]

If innovation is truly core to your development strategy, I urge the Patrick Administration to make non-compete agreements unenforceable here in Massachusetts -- as they are in California. Non-competes stifle innovation. They give talented people a reason not to move here. They are used, and frequently misused, to protect weak incumbents. And, they ultimate damage growth in the Massachusetts economy by suppressing start-up formation and job creation.

[Dan Keldsen - Information Architected]

Sec. Bialecki - great to see this initiative and innovation declaration being kicked off.

Innovation does not happen by accident, and an agenda to specifically PURSUE innovation is a great step towards creating the future.

As someone who regularly works with Silicon Valley companies, yet has been a resident of Massachusetts for 21 years, it is fantastic to see both the companies based in Massachusetts who are leading the East Coast innovation thrust, and the administration of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, rise to the occasion to remind ourselves, if not others in the world, that Innovation is alive and well here in Massachusetts.

Bravo to the Patrick Administration in making innovation a priority - if ever this has been needed, the time is now.

And as a Massachusetts-based business assisting organizations of all sizes pursue innovation as a sustainable business capability, whether from an individual worker to entire organizations, if there is anything I can do to assist, I'd be happy to help.

Regards,
Dan Keldsen
Co-founder
Information Architected
Boston, MA

[Tim Rowe]

Greg, welcome to the land of the bloggers. Great first post. I look forward to collaborating with you, your team, and others around the Commonwealth to grow our lead.

[Gordon F Snyder Jr]

Excellent Secretary Bialecki! Thank you for your support, work and positive attitude. All of us out here in the western part of the state look forward to continued work together.

[Scott Kirsner]

Good to see you blogging, Greg. Keep it up!

[Dave McLaughlin]

Innovation, collaboration, risk-taking - we love that! Boston World Partnerships is one young but growing piece of this innovation infrastructure. Already our Connectors are working collaboratively with partners statewide to add more fuel to this fire. We're fortunate to have Greg's thoughtful contributions in our Board conversations - and I see this blog as a way for more people to benefit from his perspective and that of his team. Bravo!

[John Harthorne]

Greg,

Great post, and great effort overall. MassChallenge is excited to continue working with you and with the rest of the ecosystem to catalyze a startup renaissance in the Commonwealth. Exciting stuff!

[Mary]

Great that you have started a blog, but blogs work best when there is true communication. I urge you to respond to comments or questions within your own comments section. I saw a comment from someone asking you to consider changes to noncompete agreements. How about a response to that?

I see that the state's public health blog is responding in comments effectively and if you can do this as well, you will change the dynamic significantly to be a true CONVERSATION.
Thanks.