Jefferson Innovation 2011 - Special Report

Anyone can successfully innovate using their individual skills and network of contacts, provided they’re committed to working with and engaging their customers early in the development process and being flexible enough to capitalize on the unexpected.

Innovators question the status quo, observe like anthropologists, network for new ideas, experiment by trying out new things, taking things apart, and testing out prototypes. In short, they consistently act differently to think differently.

What a terrible time to try to sell an innovation. Oh, for the boom years of a decade ago, when investment capital was as plentiful as the dew.

Some of the the best tech innovators are college dropouts. Now one of them is paying aspiring ones to quit school and brainstorm.  Peter Thiel's fellowship program is now underway.

For two days, some of the best and brightest minds in technology, education and business will gather at the University of Virginia for a conversation about how to encourage innovators and entrepreneurs to create jobs, spur economic growth, and ensure global competitiveness.