News
It's 2015 - let's resolve to innovate something this month
January 09, 2015
by Dave Ryan
Did you ever have an itch, but nothing to scratch? Or, did you ever have a great idea, and no means to express it?
Google is probably one of the most innovative companies in the world, and they came up with an idea, i.e. company policy, that enabled their workers to use 20 percent of each work week to come up with innovative ideas to better improve the company, their environment or their everyday lives.
Such thinking led to a multitude of new ideas for Google, but at a cost of one day per employee, per week, it may have lost its focus, not to mention millions of dollars in lost production.
As an employer, can you imagine telling your employees to take off one day per week to come up with a new idea? The lost production time alone would be catastrophic in a steel mill or refinery, not to mention an automobile production facility.
In Northwest Indiana, we do not have Google, but we are fortunate to have Ivy Tech Community College and its "Gerald I. Lamkin Innovation & Entrepreneurship Center - a Place Where Dreams Take Flight."
With the entrepreneurial spirit of O'Merrial Butchee and John Davies, the center provides learning through the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, and also celebrates new ideas and creations through the Society of Innovators.
To further stimulate new thoughts and procedures, Ivy Tech came up with the "What's Your Idea?" campaign, which encouraged students, faculty, administrators and alumni to take an active part in the growth and development of the college.
All parties are invited each semester to submit their idea(s) for improving, changing a process, or implementing a new procedure through the Ivy Tech website.
Additionally, the Society of Innovators continues to celebrate and promote innovation in seven Northwest Indiana counties. Nominations are accepted from Lake, Porter, LaPorte, Newton, Jasper, Pulaski, and Starke counties.
From steel and oil, to electric vehicles and cows, the Society of Innovators continues to not only receive nominations on a monthly basis, but promote these wonderful achievements each and every month, culminating with an award ceremony annually.
Louie Gonzalez, president of Ivy Tech's East Chicago campus, is committed to innovation, and accordingly, reminds us that while innovation may involve technology, that is not a pre-requisite to be recognized by the Society of Innovators.
Your great new idea might affect the arts, or education, or even government, so let's get innovative today, send your exciting new ideas to the attention of O'Merrial Butchee or John Davies at www.ivytech.edu, and put your name on the Society’s next list of innovators.
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