According to a new study of a thousand companies, The Resilience Report, ‘NO’.  The R&D investment vs. sales growth graph above shows no correlation whatsoever.

Perhaps this was true in the industrial world based on manufactured goods, but as we shift from services to experiences, innovation is no longer a ‘department’, but a more “robust business model and good cross-functional capabilities” throughout the company (eg Southwest), or city for that matter.  Today’s vastly increasing customer

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How can one afford own their own home and live in the most desirable neighborhood (ie expensive) without making anywhere near the requisite $100K/year?

Young architect Marianne Cusato is making waves with her Katrina Cottage.

Key statistics:
Size:  308 s.f.
Price:  Less than $30,000.

Granted, this is for housing in Katrina-ravaged neighborhoods, but what’s interesting is that once people experience the home ‘in person’, they found it a lot more appealing than they’d expect…

“As soon as the

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Well, it’ll take more than just pretty lights.  Assuming that there indeed is a bohemia in every city, there isn’t much economic benefit if there aren’t innovators creating and growing exciting new companies.  Also assuming that the neighborhood is ‘cool’, how can a city support these entrepreneurs?

Innovation Philadelphia, a 4-year old private-partnership dedicated to growing the global innovation economy of the Greater Philadelphia Region, is confident they have the answer.  They provide

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Just a few decades ago if you were a bohemian, you’d have to travel to Haight Ashbury, San Francisco or Greenwich Village to feel at home.  Today, every town has its own ‘Greenwich Village’.  What happened?  That’s the underlying question that Vanderbilt professor Richard Lloyd answers in his new book, Neo-Bohemia: Art and Commerce in the Postindustrial City.

The simple answer?  Because our evolving creative economy depends on it.  The information economy has spawned the rise of media,

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Each week I receive inquiries from cities that want to provide incentives to real estate developers that can attract the job-creating creative class.  At the same time, I work with investment funds that are seeking progressive real estate developers to invest in.  The question is, are there enough cooltown-oriented real estate development firms to match the opportunities?

Please contact me if you are (see email link in right column.)  The development opportunities are there.  The capital is

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The urban movement is indeed gaining momentum, yet it’s still not near where the true urban market wants it to be.  BusinessWeek just documented this in its recent article, Bringing Community to the City.  Their slide show (image above) of the coming vision is hopeful, yet still uninspiring.

The Good:
“Mixed Developments. Such town centers are truly picking up steam and will soon change the landscape of America. Nowhere is the trend more visible than with mall developers: Out of 147 new

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I’ve covered live band karaoke at the workplace and dancing at an art show, so why not a rock band at a shoe store?

That’s what happened at this undisclosed* shoe store last Wednesday night to introduce a new product line.  The goal is to put on four of these events a year, and with free beer, chocolate-covered strawberries and a top notch band (Morningwood, reminded me of Garbage - the band), it’ll create quite the loyal following.  The point is, the successful retailers are no longer

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The U Street Shopper Social in MidCity, Washington DC, highlighted yesterday, has been running for a few years when such grassroots campaigns to attract new customers start to lose momentum.

Some keys to a successful promotion:

1. Shorter period of time.  The Shopper Social is only from 5-8 pm, so the crowds are more intense.  If it were any longer, the crowds would be dispersed to the point no one would feel like there’s something ‘happening’.

2. Smaller area.  There are 500 businesses in

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Yesterday’s entry on how independent businesses can work together by forming strategic alliances.  However, the models presented are bureaucratic structures that can take years to establish, and even though they’re worth it, it’s not in the spirit of how an entrepreneurial independent business operates.

That’s why a group of merchants on U Street in MidCity, Washington DC formed their own ad hoc group and began a monthly tradition known as the U Street Shopper Social, aka the Third Thursday

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How can independent businesses possibly compete with the marketing clout of the big regional malls or the national reach of big box chains?  Well, their best tactic is to build a community of commerce - a network of local businesses working together with a common purpose.  As they say, a rising tide floats all ships.

One of the most effective ways of accomplishing this is to legislate a Business Improvement District (BID) where businesses are taxed to create a fund to market and maintain the

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