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Innovation bringing about the next MichiganGet Adobe Flash Player to see this player.
Video courtesy WWJ 
Audio of the "Destination: Innovation" event Related podcasts:
TROY, Mich. (WWJ) -- What will it take for Michigan to get its economic groove back? At WWJ's "Destination: Innovation" Business Breakfast in Troy, business and University Research Corridor leaders agreed that entrepreneurialism is the key. During Thursday's event, WWJ had a chance to hear from some of the top minds in Michigan about how we can bring new business, new technology and jobs to our state. Judy Johncox helps turn ideas into action at Wayne State University's TechTown. She said the key to being an entrepreneur is to surround yourself with other idea people. "It's much harder to build a company at home, in your basement, than it is to have a small space inside an entrepreneurial community -- where you're brining insight from other enterpreneurs," Johncox told WWJ's Ron Dewey. "You're learning what you don't know from experiences of other enterpreneurs," she said. 
Johncox says if you believe in your idea and are willing to put in the time and the work to make it grow, you can make your own trail to the next economy. Jeff Mason is Executive Director of Michigan’s University Research Corridor, which is a collaboration between the state's three largest universities. "We've lost some of that 'mojo', if you will, in terms of innovation and entrepreneurship," Mason said. "And Destination Innovation is an opportunity to bring some thought leaders together to talk about innovation, and what is is, and why it's important, and why it can really help in terms of new trajectory for Michigan's economy," he said. In order for Michigan to regain it's entrpenuerial spirit, University of Michigan Business Professor Jeff DeGraff said we need to get back in touch with our "inner Henry Ford." "[We had] a hundred years of tinkerers and inventors and builders, and 'can do', and a sense of destiny -- I think that one of the things that happend in the 80's, in the downturn, is things got very conservative here," DeGraff said. 
DeGraff says he sees these can-do people coming out of his classrooms. The roblem is, they take their amazing ideas out of Michigan. And DeGraff says that has to change. Prior to the event, WWJ's Roberta Jasina spoke DeGraff about the economy, innovation, jobs and Michigan's future. Roberta spoke also with Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations, who says in order to reach our goals, Michigan needs to "move away from an economy of entitlement and move toward an economy of entrepreneurship." Sheridan says, in his business, he loves to see creative conflict arise in the conference room, which, he says, fuels innovative ideas.
Contact: Joe Serwach, (734) 647-1844 or jserwach@umich.edu April 18, 2010 Media Advisory Experts to discuss how innovation can jump start Michigan's economy
TROY — Michigan boomed because of innovators like Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, S.S. Kresge and W.K. Kellogg. How can Michigan reinvigorate that innovative spirit? Who are today’s Edisons? And what exactly is innovation, anyway? Michigan’s University Research Corridor and WWJ Newsradio 950 will gather leading innovators at the Michigan State University Management Center, 811 W. Square Lake Road, in Troy on Thursday, April 29. URC Executive Director Jeff Mason opens the morning seminar, Destination:Innovation, with WWJ's Technology Editor Matt Roush moderating the panel discussions. Registration and continental breakfast is 7:30 a.m. - 8:30 a.m followed by the program from 8:30 a.m. to noon. 
Innovation experts speaking include: Jeff DeGraff, a University of Michigan business professor and consultant who authored the book "Leading Innovation;" Judy Johncox, associate vice president from technology commercialization at Wayne State; Rich Sheridan, CEO of Menlo Innovations; and Soji Adelaja, director of the MSU Land Policy Institute. Area business speakers who are succeeding through innovation include: Jason Bornhorst, a recent U-M graduate and “serial entrepreneur’’ whose companies developed some of the hottest iPhone apps on the market; Dean Massab, CEO of Roush Life Sciences; Charles Hasemann, director of MSU’s Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute, which is working to become a hub for biomedical research statewide; and Rangaramanujam M. Kannan, a WSU chemical engineering professor and chief technical officer of NanoScience Engineering Corp. 
The research universities, working together through the URC, an alliance of MSU, U-M and Wayne State, have each made innovation a top priority. The URC was founded in 2006 to leverage the power of Michigan’s research universities to transform, strengthen and diversify the state’s economy. A recent study found that the three universities have a combined impact on the state’s economy of $14.5 billion. WWJ Newsradio 950 is owned and operated by CBS RADIO, one of the largest major-market radio operators in the United States is a division of CBS Corp. CBS RADIO operates 130 radio stations, the majority of which are in the nation’s top 50 markets. In Detroit, CBS RADIO also owns and operates WOMC-FM, WYCD-FM, WVMV-FM and WXYT AM/FM. Advance registration is required with a charge of $10 to the general public or free to students or staff with a University ID. To register, click here. For more on the URC, visit: www.urcmich.org For more on WWJ, visit: www.wwj.com
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