McKinsey Quarterly just published this interview in which Economist Nicholas Stern says that we should use the economic crisis to address climate change.

“We need to have a reflationary package, which lays the foundation for future growth. And if we look into the future, it’s actually quite exciting. Because what we see is the biggest technological opportunity that we’ve had for a very long time: as big as the railways, as big as electricity, as big as the motorcar, and, most recently, information technology. It’s the opportunity to go for low-carbon growth.”

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There’s a lot of talk about how entrepreneurs can save the day.

Who will get us out of this economic mess? Entrepreneurs.

Who is going to lead us towards clean energy? Entrepreneurs.

Who is going to save the New York Times from Rupert Murdoch? Entrepreneurs?

There is an enormous amount of truth to this idea, but its a bit incomplete. Sramana Mitra recently posted an article for Forbes as part of a running series that is exploring a variety of topics related to the economy and entrepreneurs. One article in particular, Barriers to Innovation, reminded me something that I think a lot of people need to bear in mind: We cannot rely on entrepreneurs alone. We need to value the solid research and technical skills that come from academia, science and engineering. Its when they intersect that real value is generated. Read the rest of this entry »

I was catching up on old episodes of marketplace and heard a piece on the cotton industry and the subsidies they receive in order to keep up with China.  That’s usually enough to send me foaming at the mouth. Subsidies hurt small businesses,  and distort our expectations.  However, the end of the interview brought some insight from Blanton Godfrey (College of Textiles at N.C. State) that gave me hope for the American entrepreneur.

Historically, the US textile industry has been subsidized through import caps.  This helps limit supply and artificially float the price so that American Producers and Chinese producers are roughly at the same price. In the short run this might seem like a good thing, but in the long run there are significant costs.

Although textile production in the US has long been shrinking, it’s also been getting more specialized. Instead of socks and underwear, our producers now make specialized fabrics that are used in fire retardant tents for the US Airforce. Read the rest of this entry »

That our greatest challenges are our best opportunities for a sustainable future, if we all work together.

There are enough blogs today commenting on the beginning of a new era and the renewal of the American spirit. It’s enough to say that I by and large agree with them.

However, for Salvage this is a particularly poignant time.  Salvage is about harnessing the power of the diverse units that make up a community under a common purpose- a unity of purpose, as some have put it. We have been circling around this topic for sometime with our network of partners as a way to innovate and grow despite limited resources. Our network must now turn this conversation into a mandate and combine our collective efforts.

Salvage Research will be continuing to produce content, broad and deep, that covers how communities are able to come together and create new social capital. The next four years are sure to produce many chances for us to test and prove our hypothesis. We hope you all join us.