The business of innovation

Starting a business can be, well, risky, but some of the top local research, development and innovation experts are holding an innovation symposium Tuesday night to meet with aspiring entrepreneurs.

The free, six-hour Invention to Venture seminar gets people thinking about the smartest ways to start-up their own businesses.

Event organizer and Executive Director of Innovation at Idaho State University Kevin Randolph said innovation is sparked within a society when the economy is low and people are looking for jobs by creating them.

“Innovation starts to occur when people are desperate and they look for ways to become something if there isn’t anything,” Randolph said.

Representatives from the Small Business Development Center on campus said an average of seven out of ten start-ups fail within the first year for whatever reason.

Randolph said there are five main characteristics in creating a new business:

1. There needs to be a proper market opportunity

2. There has to be a problem present, and the innovator needs to have found a solution to that problem.

3. There needs to be a reliable team assembled that could execute the problem effectively and efficiently.

4. The innovator needs to figure out their legal regulations and risks.

5. Capital. There needs to be capital, and lots of it (depending on how big the idea is).

“There are big ideas; there are the Google’s and the Microsoft’s and the Tesla Motor’s, but they all require significant capital poured in. It’s kind of like birthing an elephant – the longer the gestation period, the bigger the opportunity,” Randolph said.

He added that capital naturally falls into place when the first four steps are followed, and the success rate of a start-up tends to be higher if hopeful entrepreneurs seek the help of professional development advisors.

The symposium will run until eight o’clock.