Chamber to get input on innovation project

CEDAR RAPIDS - It's been nine months since the Cedar Rapids Area Chamber of Commerce received a $3 million federal grant to help it build a $6 million innovation center.

However, chamber board Chairman Chuck Peters said Friday that there has been no consensus about what should be in the facility or how it should function.

Peters said the chamber wants to have a better idea of what the building will be before seeking local matching funds to the $3 million grant.

The grant requires that construction on the project be started by 2013, Peters said.

Scott Swenson, senior case manager for the chamber's recovery team, said the chamber will soon begin an “inclusive and transparent” process to gather input about what is needed to create a collaborative and innovative business culture in the Corridor.

Swenson is working with Andy Stoll on a process of building a regional “social fabric” of innovative entrepreneurs, inventors and business owners.

How the building will serve their needs will be secondary to the creation of the network and obtaining its input about fostering collaboration and innovation.

“We want to take a different approach than we've typically taken in development,” Swenson said. “We don't want it to be a top-down process.”

Although the project isn't moving swiftly, Peters said the good news is that the federal grant has forced more discussion about the needs of an innovation economy than would have occurred without it.

Swenson said the first activities around the process will begin to trickle out next week. Efforts are expected to include the use of a website for informational purposes, events, and social media.

“The process will be more about the culture of innovation and not so much about the building,” Swenson said. “We want to research and plan the starting point.”