What’s triggering all this innovation?  Boston, HuffPost, BusinessWeek, and your mom are talking about it.  I even have it in my blurb on the front page of my website (and for the record, have had it there for quite some time.) But really, why all the sudden buzz around “innovation”?  Did the universe have a huge brain fart up until 2010?

Nah, I doubt it.

People innovate every day, every hour of the day.  It’s just that now, in the thawing of the political and the economic environment that it’s more evident.  Perhaps that’s a reason… perhaps not.

Wherever it’s coming and for whatever reason, I’ll say that we’ve got nothing to lose by embracing it and fostering its growth.  Specifically in Boston, there’s been a turbo charge of innovation and thought around how to best create value.

A couple places to look:

• The ever high and mighty DartBoston beast. Most notably, their show Capitalize brings together small ventures and head honcho’s from local VC firms.  Capitalize “provide[s] young entrepreneurs and students with the experience of what it’s actually like to pitch a start-up to a VC or Angel.”  DartBoston fosters and promotes the great innovation that’s happening in the under 30 crowd.  And don’t forget about the intense networking and community building that happens at the live shows.  In addition to Capitalize, DartBoston produces two other shows – Pokin’ Holes and Rule 53.

• Closer to my academic home, there are two great programs coming out of Northeastern University. The first initiative is called Husky Innovation Challenge (HIC).  HIC is a business strategy competition open to any NU students.  It provides resources to “entrepreneurs with an idea from any background – arts and sciences, music, engineering, or business” says co-founder Aaron Gerry.  Once the entrepreneur has the idea, HIC’s job is to help flesh it out by providing boot camps and introductions to mentors. The second initiative is for more developed entrepreneurs to further their ideas.  The Inter-Disciplinary Entrepreneurship Accelerator (IDEA) is essentially an incubator and “is more milestone based” says Gerry. IDEA provides space and funding for some companies. HIC and IDEA are separate organizations but are not mutually exclusive; they do work in synergy to promote and assist entrepreneurs and new ventures.

What else is going on around town?  Leave it in the comments.

Follow these innovators on Twitter:  @DartBoston, @HICNEU, @IDEANEU

Photo credit Luke Redmond