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As our politics and public life have become increasingly divisive and toxic, too many Americans no longer see their realities reflected and no longer believe that they can make a difference. Real progress in communities can be hard to come by. And yet, across the country, people yearn to believe that we can get things done together and make hope real for everyone. It is this belief in people's innate ability to come together and create authentic hope, that sparked a then 27-year-old Richard C. Harwood to found The Harwood Institute for Public Innovation and dedicate himself to making the case for a different kind of public life and politics. For more than 20 years, through innovation, on-the-ground efforts, and ground-breaking research, we know what it takes to get things done in communities and strengthen our civic culture. We help people develop into Public Innovators, build Boundary Spanning Organizations, grow common spaces for innovation and learning, and cultivate the conditions, norms, and productive narratives that help their communities move forward. Today, our approach is being used by tens of thousands of individuals in communities across the U.S. and around the globe. But more is needed. We have an audacious strategy to make a case for a different kind of public life and politics and to spread these ideas, insights, and approaches so that people can make them their own. Of course, no single organization or individual can make these changes on their own; but, together, we can.

The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is a highly competitive program that encourages domestic small businesses to engage in Federal Research/Research and Development (R/R&D) that has the potential for commercialization. Through a competitive awards-based program, SBIR enables small businesses to explore their technological potential and provides the incentive to profit from its commercialization. By including qualified small businesses in the nation's R&D arena, high-tech innovation is stimulated and the United States gains entrepreneurial spirit as it meets its specific research and development needs.

The failure of many of the systems that underpin modern life is increasingly difficult to avoid, so it's not surprising that interest in 'systems innovation' is growing fast. At the Point People, we've seen pioneers emerging in this field from different sectors, leading very different kinds of organisations and speaking very different professional languages. We had a hunch that these frontrunners could tell a compelling story about what systemic innovation looks and feels like in practice. So we put them in front of a camera and asked them a handful of questions.

Forum for the Future US brings all of Forum's system innovation, futures and sustainable business tools and expertise to solve sustainability challenges across North America. Working with major businesses including Target, Walmart and McDonald's, smaller companies like Method and Annie's, and NGOs such as The Rainforest Alliance, we have helped reshape the business models and convene the coalitions capable of creating lasting change. We believe that only by keeping a keen eye on what the future might hold can we make sound decisions for the longer term. We also believe that the key systems that we rely on, like food and energy, are broken and in need of complete transformation. Forum equips its Network members with the knowledge, training and practical tools to innovate. We provide them with a platform for collaboration where they can test solutions and make their successes bigger and better.

E Emerging Prairie is an organization that focuses on energizing communities through innovative programming and events that move the needle and ignite economic growth for the state of North Dakota. With our values, mission and vision as a guiding force, we strive to support the founders, creators, innovators and community builders across the region to be curious and relentless in their pursuits.

The U.S. Economic Development Administration's investment policy is designed to establish a foundation for sustainable job growth and the building of durable regional economies throughout the United States. This foundation builds upon two key economic drivers - innovation and regional collaboration. Innovation is key to global competitiveness, new and better jobs, a resilient economy, and the attainment of national economic goals. Regional collaboration is essential for economic recovery because regions are the centers of competition in the new global economy and those that work together to leverage resources and use their strengths to overcome weaknesses will fare better than those that do not. EDA encourages its partners around the country to develop initiatives that advance new ideas and creative approaches to address rapidly evolving economic conditions.

Project Breakthrough connects mainstream companies with next generation innovators and entrepreneurs - and shines a spotlight on the best examples of sustainable innovation. In this way, it aims to stimulate transformative insight and corporate action - geared towards the sense of urgency and stretch ambitions outlined by the SDGs.

We're innovators. We're curious. And we're dissatisfied with the status quo. We're dedicated to strengthening the field of practice that bridges health and communities. Bridging Health & Community aims to transform how we approach health so that it goes beyond health care and public health to include fostering community agency. Based in Seattle, WA, with an office in London, UK, we do our field-building work through convening and coaching. We share the fruits of our work with a view to further describing and strengthening the field of practice that bridges the health sector and those that foster community agency. We met through the Creating Health Collaborative, an international group of innovators exploring health from the perspective of communities. By sharing our work through the Collaborative, we learned of the critical link between a community's ability to make purposeful choices and its health.

Nesta is an independent charity with a mission to help people and organisations bring great ideas to life. We do this by providing investments and grants and mobilising research, networks and skills. Nesta doesn't work alone. We rely on the strength of the partnerships we form with other innovators, community organisations, educators and investors too. We're in the very lucky position of gaining greater independence and freedom at a time when many organisations face severe constraints.

What interests me is how the lessons found in the article could be applied to real world community governance in relation to the public sector. Such communities are already in existence so cannot be created outside of the box to start with, however many of the other observations can be applied especially with the use of the Internet and application of direct democratic dialogue. It should be possible to create some new disruptive innovations which such an approach and resources to create some new community paradigms.

Eleven diverse regions across California have come together to launch the California Stewardship Network, developing innovative regional solutions to the state's most pressing economic, environmental, and community challenges. These solutions require "breakthrough innovation" driven by a "new generation" of civic entrepreneurs-diverse regional teams composed of both established and emerging leaders.

Today, Global Integrity plays the unique role of innovator for the transparency and accountability community: working with a global community of local contributors, we produce innovative research and technologies to ensure that the field continues to evolve with better data and research tools. We believe that accountable, transparent, and honest government is a fundamental right of every citizen.

The Motivate Cape Town Challenge: Make Cape Town a Fantastic Place to Live, Work and Play! The Plan: CHALLENGE 2012! Empower communities to turn their innovative ideas into sustainable projects. 'Communities' are any gatherings of positive and passionate Capetonians. 'Innovative ideas' are the common wisdom and ability to create the solutions we need.'Sustainable' means lasting, positive change for all the people of Cape Town. 'Projects' are any projects that contribute to positive change.

Our vision at Future.ly is to make the cutting edge standard, visualize future possibilities and map the players, influence factors and dynamics in the innovation space around the world. Ranging from tracking the Innovators, the institution or startups that they work in, the technologies that they are working on to the invisible characteristics that connect them. We aggregate relevant data sources to monitor dynamics and surface trends within different areas and enable the visual exploration of this data.

Our vision at Future.ly is to make the cutting edge standard, visualize future possibilities and map the players, influence factors and dynamics in the innovation space around the world. Ranging from tracking the Innovators, the institution or startups that they work in, the technologies that they are working on to the invisible characteristics that connect them. We aggregate relevant data sources to monitor dynamics and surface trends within different areas and enable the visual exploration of this data.

The Harwood Institute is a national not-for-profit organization that teaches and coaches people and organizations to solve pressing problems and change how communities work together. Based on 25 years of innovating with communities, The Harwood Institute has developed a proven practice that is used in thousands of communities nationally and worldwide.

Advancing a new understanding of democracy for the 21st century and promoting new strategies and innovations in community development that enhance democratic life. Promoting new strategies and innovations in community development that enhance democratic life. The Collaborative is a national leader in the field of community development through our Community Wealth Building Initiative. The Initiative sustains a wide range of projects involving research, training, policy development, and community-focused work designed to promote an asset-based paradigm and increase support for the field across-the-board.

The Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation is focused on developing policies and programs to accelerate economic recovery and create stronger communities. We do this by harnessing human capital and facilitating financial capital.

the U.S. Economic Development Administration sponsored this project to develop new tools to support strategic economic development planning in rural regions. The goal of this work is to help rural planners assess their region's comparative strengths and weaknesses with respect to fostering innovation-based growth. The project's data and tools, however, can be used equally well in any type of region-urban, exurban, metropolitan or custom-based depending upon need and purpose.

The time has come for policymakers to begin using innovative technologies to analyze data exhaust to protect communities from multiple slow-onset crises that threaten to reverse hard-won progress in human development