Not to be confused with the beer guy (though he did make it once), Mark Sirangelo CIO of Colorado and Corporate VP of Sierra Nevada Corporation, closed out the final panel of COIN 2015 with a discussion about where innovation is headed in Colorado and beyond.

He started by discussing the two big subject areas tackled in the XFINITY Innovation Think Tank, as well as panels throughout the two day summit: healthy lifestyles and advanced communities. Both of these big ideas are going to be tackled in the coming year with an innovative new crowdsourcing platform unique to Colorado.

Normally to solve the big issues at the state or federal level, the government would have come up with an idea and pitched it to the public. But Colorado had a different idea. They’re going to be opening a new platform called Imagine Colorado to ask the community to help them what Colorado could be. The state is ready to invest the money and time into solving problems across communities, why not give the people in the state a chance to voice what they want the government to look at?

“It’s a wonderful time for where we are with COIN and where we’re going,” said Mark about the state of innovation in Colorado. “So many wonderful ideas and so many wonderful people come here. Now let’s try to bring it out further so everyone can see the innovation happening in Denver and take it forward.”

Mark then went on to introduce Governor Hickenlooper, who often likes to throw out quotes in his speeches, with one from George Bernard Shaw.

“You look to the future and some people say why. Other people look into the future and say why not?”

The governor is one of those people who says why not. Why not have something like COIN? Why not reach out to the people of Colorado and ask them how they want to innovate? The governor start to speak about his hopes for COIN, and the collaborations he saw throughout the summit.

“I hope all the ideas that came through today and yesterday are cross-pollinating across all industries,” said Governor Hickenlooper as he closed out COIN 2015. “Government’s primary role is to be the convener. To make sure everyone who should be there, is there. And when good ideas come out of it, we should be implementing it in real time.”

The governor also spoke about how small communities want to invest in their local schools and infrastructure, but are often hindered by state-wide backlash. That’s why advancing communities was such an important topic during the summit, to look for ways to promote growth and innovation starting at the community level, and then growing outward.

The governor closed his interview by exhausting the essence of the people of Colorado, their incredible ability to take risks and their constant need to innovate.

That’s all from this year’s COIN summit, but you know Innovators Peak will continue to highlight the amazing spirit of Colorado and the incredible people that make it such an incredible place to live, work, and innovate.