Call it collabitition. It’s that seemingly improbable balance of collaboration and competition employed by many Colorado companies that’s helping drive innovation in our state.
And it’s working. This past year, Colorado has clocked in as the second most innovative state in the union.
Innovation has become a prime focus in Colorado, from the state capitol to Startup Week. But what is it that sets us
apart? According to the Colorado Innovation Network (COIN), encouraging innovation takes four key ingredients: talent, ideas, entrepreneurship and capital.
But, it’s that collabitition that may be tipping the scales in favor of Colorado companies.
“There’s a really strong winner’s mentality here. We’re a culture that likes to put points on the board,” said Colorado Technology Association CEO Erik Mitisek. “I think it’s balanced humility, but at the same time there’s an aggressive community here that really wants to lead the state, lead the nation.”
Making the ‘Old Economy’ New
Two of Colorado’s largest and most established sectors are where innovation is revving up: health and wellness and energy.
The redeveloped Fitzsimons Life Science District and Anschutz Medical Campus—578 acres off of Interstate 225 and Colfax Avenue devoted to education, research and business growth—has been lauded regionally for its innovation and partnership of public and private sectors.
The campus houses the University of Colorado Denver, the University of Colorado Hospital, Children’s Hospital Colorado and the future Veteran’s Administration Hospital. Just across the street in the Bioscience Park Center Sharklet Technologies is one of 46 companies using incubator space.
“We’re right across the street from one of the greatest research facilities in the world,” said Sharklet CEO Mark Spiecker. “It’s a great opportunity for somebody to come up with an idea, move over here to this bioscience incubator and take space, start developing their technologies and then they can go back across the street to collaborate to be able to do trials or tests on their technology to be able to move it forward and work toward getting it to the marketplace.”
And access to that talent and research has been key for Sharklet, which has developed a pattern for high-touch areas (everything from your smartphone case to medical devices) modeled after sharkskin that prevents bacteria from attaching to a surface. In testing they’ve seen a 90 percent reduction in bacteria without chemicals or antibiotics.
The texture they’ve developed is about a 50th the size of a human hair. Right now, they’re focusing on integrating it into devices like catheters to prevent infection in hospitals, but Spiecker says the goal is to eventually use it on other surfaces like countertops and phone cases.
Meanwhile, companies are pushing for innovative solutions in the energy sector. At the National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) Energy Systems Integration Facility, research and development is underway by the government and the private sector to find solutions to integrate a variety of energy sources into the electricity grid.
“I like to call it the smallest most complex little energy system in the world,” said Associate Laboratory Director Bryan Hannegan, adding that company partners like Toyota “can come here and see the future.”
In addition to work with large companies, NREL works with small businesses and startups, allowing them to take advantage of their brain power or research space, said NREL’s Director of Innovation and Enterpreneurship Center Richard
Adams.
It’s a connection of public and private sectors that will only continue to grow, Hannegan said.
“Increasingly I think that’s the way the national lab system is moving,” he said. “The real pools of innovation and resources are out there in the private sector if what you want is for somebody to get that product to market.”
Being Bankable
When it comes to being “bankable,” to start a company and share an innovative new idea, that means cash to get off the ground and talent to move it forward.
Often “one of the biggest challenges most startup businesses have is funding,” said Mike Matthews, president of the Denver metro region of Wells Fargo, the area’s largest bank and largest grantor of small business loans, giving over $800 million nationally so far this fiscal year, according to the Small Business Administration.
While some say capital can be hard to come by, others say that good ideas will get funding, whether through a bank like Wells Fargo or through investment. Many local leaders credited a community focus on investing in startups through funds like the Colorado Impact Fund.
“The folks that are successful … they’re anxious to help that next person get started,” Matthews said. “I see so much of that.”
Meanwhile, leaders agree that while the talent is here—“This is a fantastic group of people working here in Colorado and they work really hard, they’re really smart,” Spiecker said—there needs to be more focus on bringing in that same kind of talent for leadership roles.
It’s something they hope will grow with more experience, connections with higher education and continuing to attract talent from across the country.
Finding the Way with Collabitition
Though opportunities remain to improve in areas that help foster innovation, the differentiator for Colorado may be its long history of working together and working hard.
“We’re a small enough community that our networks are accessible,” Adams said. “It’s easy to move your way around.”
There are 300 more community events focused on innovation and startups compared to two years ago, Mitisek said. He only anticipates they’ll grow.
“I think the Millennial generation is going to be known as the generation of entrepreneurs,” he said. “It’s ingrained in that generation and they’re doing a lot of it.”
And by working together, companies can create more interest.
“We all have an opportunity to get more visibility for Colorado companies,” said Spiecker, who often connects his potential investors with other bioscience startups in the state. “If we can get more people interested in Colorado and we get enough critical mass, then (investors will) start to establish more of a presence.”
Sara Crocker is communications manager for the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce.
[Photo at top by Dennis Schroeder, courtesy of NREL.]