The prize money isn't what the Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition is about any more than the entertainment is what makes TEDx Detroit special. For these relatively new events and a handful of others in Metro Detroit, it's taking creative, entrepreneurial people out of their silos and putting them in a room with other similar people they might not otherwise rub elbows and share ideas with.
"A creative mind needs cross pollination," says Charlie Wollberg, executive producer and curator of the
2011 TEDx Detroit.
TEDx Detroit, in its third year, is part of a national series that is designed to stimulate dialogue through local entrepreneurs, creatives and doers giving short, entertaining presentations about their passions. The event regularly puts hundreds of local like-minded individuals from a broad variety of careers and walks of life into one venue to share ideas through listening, learning and interacting with each other.
"When the pond turns into a sea we can all be big fish,"
Matt Dibble, owner of downtown Detroit-based
Final Five Productions, says during his TEDx talk. "We can all make money together."
The
Accelerate Michigan Innovation Competition, in its second year, does much of the same thing. The business plan competition in Ann Arbor brings entrepreneurs and their start-ups together from a broad range of industries, such as alternative energy and life sciences, to compete for $1 million in prizes. The competition just released the list of its 53 semi-finalists who represent start-ups in Grand Rapids, Port Huron, Flint, Ypsilanti and Detroit, among other Michigan cities.
Its official purpose is to showcase the state's top start-ups and entrepreneurs to potential investors and acquirers. However, a major goal is to create synergies and partnerships by putting these people in the same room. It's the same goal as smaller, cross-industry entrepreneurial events like
Ann Arbor and
Detroit new tech meet-ups or
Detroit Start-up Drinks or the
Great Lakes Entrepreneurial Quest. All of these are relatively new and are key pieces of ground work for reinventing Michigan's economy.
Source: Charlie Wollberg, executive producer and curator of 2011 TEDx Detroit
Writer: Jon Zemke
Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.
Enjoy this story?
Sign up for free solutions-based reporting in your inbox each week.