Big ideas stem from several sources for local innovators

BOULDER — Triggers for innovation come from many sources: employees, competitors, customers, and in some instances, the government.

Serial entrepreneur Scott Brown’s latest company, Kronovia Inc., took its cue from the need for publicly traded companies to control their employees’ content on social-networking sites. He came up with a way to track, monitor and archive online chatter that could be detrimental to the cause.

When an employee at Scott Rodwin’s architectural firm needed to find a more affordable way to make his old home more energy-efficient, they took the downtime of a lean economy to create cookie-cutter plans for green retrofits.

And John…