Innovation is the only permanent competitive advantage.
It drives down product costs just as surely as it creates new goods and services. It increases sales while allowing companies to invest more in tangible, intangible and human assets. For those reasons, innovation is considered the magic bullet that every business owner seeks.
With that in mind, Providence Business News and the R.I. Economic Development Corporation joined forces to create the first Rhode Island Innovation Awards and shine a spotlight on state businesses and businesspeople that put innovation at the center of what they do.
The companies and people highlighted in these pages – as well as those that entered but did not make the list – understand what innovation means to success. And they understand that innovation can mean inventing new products and fashioning new markets, or it can mean thinking about old products and markets in new ways.
They understand as well that it is often a collaborative process and always a creative process – just as artistic in its way as the best works hanging in the Museum of Art at Rhode Island School of Design. And it is just as deserving of recognition.
That is why we at PBN and our colleagues at the RIEDC celebrate Rhode Island’s businesses and best business practices. Sure, it makes some people feel good, but most importantly, it makes the entire business community take notice of what works and how it works. And it makes clear that while success is never inevitable, it is most certainly achievable.
If innovation is in the company’s DNA, even the thorniest problems can be solved and the highest hurdles can be surmounted.
So to our seven winners, as well as the many other applicants, we say congratulations. And keep innovating!
Mark S. Murphy
Editor
