What does Goldilocks have to do with the history of innovation?

I was asked last month to give a speech on the history of innovation in Northern Colorado. This is no small task considering that the history is subjective and vast.

I placed my research/librarian hat atop my rust-laden brain and went to work on a timeline of activities that I thought were vectors for change in our ecosystem over the last 30 years. Why is it that Entrepreneur Media ranked Fort Collins, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, Denver and Colorado Springs in the top 10 cities for entrepreneurship? Why does Northern Colorado produce 11 times more patents per capita than the rest of the nation? Why do Fort Collins and Boulder create more startups per capita than most cities in the nation? Why is it that both Avago’s and Anheuser Busch’s leadership told me that they send their corporate-wide technological problems to Fort Collins engineers to solve, and these plants are their most productive worldwide?

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I have spent a career studying the temperaments of entrepreneurs and have had too many conversations to count on the topic of innovation and the ingredients of a community to be more innovative.

I have a theory that when you combine 100-plus years of pioneer-spirited Coloradans in an area that is rewarded by the “Goldilocks” phrase, “It’s not too big and it’s not too small,” magic occurs. Sprinkle in more than 300 days of sunshine, three research universities and a quality of life that produces more laughter, health and high IQ’d settlers, and you’ve hit the jackpot.

We are just small enough in population that it is possible that you could be sitting in the stands of your kids’ soccer match next to the president of the local university. This would allow a person the privilege of a networking opportunity rarely afforded to a large-city resident. However, the size of the region is not so small that you can’t find customers locally.

We are makers, creators, researchers and pioneers who are risk takers.

When the Smithsonian researchers came to town in 2008 and interviewed all of us who had any influence on the creative and entrepreneurial segment of Fort Collins, they asked us what specifically we had done to produce what they thought was the national hub for innovation in the clean-energy space.  I distinctly remember each of us in that room scratching our heads to determine how best to answer the question. Although we all were supporting many firms working on smart-grid, solar, wind and energy-efficiency issues, and in our backyard there were outstanding universities emphasizing these studies, ultimately we determined it was more organic than strategic.

The Smithsonian just announced the completion of the “Places of Invention” exhibit at the National Museum of American History in Washington, at which Fort Collins is prominently displayed.

The question for me now is, how do we sustain something so organic if indeed Goldilocks has anything to do with it?

The strategy now is to let the startups continue to spontaneously grow within our region, but surround them with agencies who can nurture their growth and scale up or, alternatively, give them advice to die a quick death if need be so that the founder can move on to the next invention.  These agencies are in the forms of small business development centers, incubators, accelerators, tech meetups, university outreach, city, state government support and more. To quote Mayor Wade Troxell in Fort Collins, it can be said that a triple helix model is in place. University, government and private leadership coming together to network, communicate and openly innovate alongside of each other. Each are a symbiotic partner with the other.

As our region produces more serial entrepreneurs who have been battered and beaten but eventually exit with a win fall that will allow them to go onto their next big idea, these masters have shown they will give back to the support agencies in advice and capital. This cycle, if nurtured and appreciated, will go on despite the fact that we are growing in population.

Perhaps I should contact those Smithsonian folks and have them consider adding the classic “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” to their display.

Kelly Peters is executive director of the Warehouse Business Accelerator.