In search of great ideas

No question, a large check and a tax break will get any company's attention.

But when it comes to economic development, ideas are where the real money is at.

When you think of it that way, it's not so strange that an economic development organization would put together a daylong event for the sole purpose of sharing great ideas.

Ideas cost nothing, can come from virtually nothing and travel the world in an instant, as they like to say over at the Sapling Foundation.

And without them, Steve Jobs would have been just some guy hanging out in his garage.

So the Iowa City Area Development Group and Widernet Project are organizing TEDxIowaCity, a day of talks, demonstrations and performances intended to get you thinking and talking about everything from copyright to soil topography to the nature of astonishment.

“The ideas are all over the map,” ICAD Business Development Director Mark Nolte told me this week.“But the common theme is what our expectations could be or should be for the future, and what we have the power as individuals to do.”

The homegrown event is organized under Sapling's TED brand - a non-profit group dedicated to spreading the ideas of some of the world's smartest, most innovative and inspiring thinkers.

There are hundreds of TEDx events around the world, although this will be Eastern Iowa's first.

Videos from the Iowa City event will be available through TED's ridiculously popular website, and Nolte hopes a few of them go viral - to give smart people on the outside a better idea of how great we are here in little old Iowa.

“There's so much thought and so many great ideas coming out of the area, that we really wanted to shine a spotlight on what we're capable of,” he said.

If it sounds a little far-flung, consider the sponsors that have thrown their weight behind the event: MidAmerican Energy, the Iowa Department of Economic Development, the Corridor Business Alliance, The University of Iowa IOWA Centers for Enterprise, Kirkwood Community College, Pearson and other local businesses.

The UI and Kirkwood are organizing free screenings so people don't have to shell out money for registration in order to listen in.

“This is the new face of economic development,” Nolte told me.“It's about engaging the community's awareness.”

“Engaged local citizens are better than any brochure about why it's great to live here.”

The event is Nov. 11; you can find out more at www.tedxiowacity.org

Comments: (319) 339-3154; jennifer.hemmingsen@sourcemedia.net