Innovation depends on a global flow of ideas, people, and products or services. Stymied immigration policies are limiting this flow by pushing away foreign founders and startups. Welcome.us has dubbed today as the Incubator Day of Action, where collaborative organizations can help make a difference in immigration reform. Reform would allow founders and startups to enter our country more easily and, hopefully, stay longer. Having many different cultures collaborating can create innovation.
I recently listened to a speech about innovation creation by Rod Collins, Director of Innovation for Optimity Advisors, where he stated that it is not created by making an “innovation department,” it is created through serendipity (right idea, team, place, and time). Serendipity cannot be forced, but the soil in which it will thrive can be nurtured through different ideas, people, and products or services clashing together to make things that couldn’t work without a special, symbiotic relationship.
Engaging with people who have dissimilar beliefs, come from various locations, and have grown up in unique ways is one of the best ways to foster the soil for serendipity. This can be possible through immigration reform. Working together, we can make America a place for serendipity to grow and, in turn, create the innovation the country needs.