news-record.com

By APRIL HARRIS

Preservation of the status quo and a reliance upon prevailing business models will not serve our community well as we inch forward on our slow journey to economic recovery. It will take individuals and companies with a passion for creativity and innovation to lift us to the level of prosperity that made Greensboro the great city we know and love. 

Greensboro’s past economic success is deeply rooted in creativity and innovation. We can point to many examples of original ideas and pioneering leadership and processes that are at the heart of our local economy: Lunsford Richardson’s well-known local invention Vicks Vapo-Rub; brothers Moses and Caesar Cone’s ascent from traveling dry goods salesmen to the world’s largest manufacturer of denim; and Spencer Love’s dogged attention to streamlined manufacturing processes that grew Burlington Industries over 39 years into Greensboro’s first Fortune 500 company with 147 plants, 65,000 employees and sales of $1.2 billion. 

Encouraging creativity and innovation for our competitive advantage is central in today’s national, state and local discussions of economic recovery. The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation’s February 2009 study, “The Atlantic Century: Benchmarking EU & U.S. Innovation and Competitiveness,” states: “In today’s global economy, the need to stay one step ahead of the competition is even more urgent — especially for industries in the United States. The emergence of challenges from rapidly developing economies such as India, China, Brazil and Eastern Europe has transformed the playing field.”

The White House “Strategy for American Innovation” asserts that “America’s future economic growth and international competitiveness depend on our capacity to innovate. We can create the jobs and industries of the future by doing what America does best — investing in the creativity and imagination of our people. To win the future, we must out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world.”

By taking businesses in a new direction we can develop fresh approaches that lead to better and higher-paying jobs for our residents. 

Creativity dreams up the new idea or way to solve a problem, and innovation brings it to market and sustains it. They are complementary approaches that allow companies to enter new markets, invent problem-solving products for their customers, and remain agile in an unpredictable environment. 

Although we know that Greensboro’s economic history has been driven by business innovation, it is equally important to notice today’s individuals and businesses who invest time, money and energy in new products and processes. Can we envision these as modern-day reincarnations of Lunsford Richardson and his peers? 

It was the mindset of creativity and innovation that led UNCG graduate Rob Howerton in 2006 to wonder if the contents of his can of keyboard duster would also kill crabgrass in his lawn.

In the time it took for Howerton to walk outside and spray a weed, a new business, Arctic Inc., was born. He learned that the super-cold, compressed CO2 did indeed kill weeds, but he needed help determining the equipment and delivery ratios that would make it a viable business opportunity.

His neighbor suggested he meet Gina Stewart, a chemist from University of Texas and UNC-Chapel Hill who had years of experience studying compressed polymers in CO2, plus 10 years of technology commercialization experience.  In 2008, the pair submitted and won an N.C. Idea Award, which gave them enough money to build their first piece of equipment. Then a National Science Foundation grant allowed them to create additional equipment modifications that gave them a viable product.

Now, the Frostbite spot-spraying system is ready for sale to the commercial weed-control market. This is a selective herbicide that exploits plants’ natural differences in cold tolerance. In other words, it freezes and kills weeds, not lawns.

And it is a green technology; Frostbite will not contaminate groundwater or cause harm to pets or children. It can be applied before or during rain, any time of day or in any temperature.   

There are dozens of people and companies right here in Greensboro and the Triad who  are on the leading edge of new products and technologies. When we notice and celebrate the fresh thinking of people like Gina Stewart and Rob Howerton, we are genuinely inspired.

April Harris is executive director of Action Greensboro and a member of the News & Record’s Town Square columnists panel.