Episode 74: Ignite Minnesota and Public/Private Sector Panel Discussion

This week on the podcast it's all about Ignite Minnesota, a brand new statewide initiative to keep greater Minnesota competitive. This regional partnership works to convene, elevate, and promote the work of innovative businesses, entrepreneurs, and technologies in Minnesota to keep the region connected and globally competitive in an ever-evolving digital space. Ignite Minnesota aims to support students, businesses, and entrepreneurs throughout Greater Minnesota.

We were lucky enough to attend the Ignite Minnesota launch last week in Red Wing to celebrate the creation of this program in our community. On the podcast today, we give a brief overview of Ignite Minnesota and then take a dive into a panel discussion held at the Ignite Minnesota launch. This panel included several local leaders in private/public sectors including: Rob Anderson of 3M, Ross Lexvold of Xcel Energy, Scott Olson of Winona State University, and Dan Pecarina of Hiawatha Broadband Communications. The panel was moderated by Glenn Ricart of US Ignite.

The panel covered a variety of topics including:
" The role of innovation in each of these organizations.
" Specific problems each organization is facing that Ignite Minnesota could help with crowdsourced solutions, including: how to transition to clean energy, how to convert toys into tools, how to improve telemedicine in rural areas, and how to break large problems into smaller deliverables.
" What they think success for Ignite Minnesota looks like.

This week on the podcast it’s all about Ignite Minnesota, a brand new statewide initiative to keep greater Minnesota competitive. This regional partnership works to convene, elevate, and promote the work of innovative businesses, entrepreneurs, and technologies in Minnesota to keep the region connected and globally competitive in an ever-evolving digital space. Ignite Minnesota aims to support students, businesses, and entrepreneurs throughout Greater Minnesota.

We were lucky enough to attend the Ignite Minnesota launch last week in Red Wing to celebrate the creation of this program in our community. On the podcast today, we give a brief overview of Ignite Minnesota and then take a dive into a panel discussion held at the Ignite Minnesota launch. This panel included several local leaders in private/public sectors including: Rob Anderson of 3M, Ross Lexvold of Xcel Energy, Scott Olson of Winona State University, and Dan Pecarina of Hiawatha Broadband Communications. The panel was moderated by Glenn Ricart of US Ignite.

The panel covered a variety of topics including:

·      The role of innovation in each of these organizations.

·      Specific problems each organization is facing that Ignite Minnesota could help with crowdsourced solutions, including: how to transition to clean energy, how to convert toys into tools, how to improve telemedicine in rural areas, and how to break large problems into smaller deliverables.

·      What they think success for Ignite Minnesota looks like.