During last week’s Colorado Innovation Network (COIN) summit, we had to opportunity to witness numerous sharp minds share their thoughts, ideas and visions for the future. One of those sharp minds was Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, who sat down with us to discuss Colorado’s entrepreneurial spirit and its place as a leader among the nation in all things cutting edge.

In part two of our interview with Gov. Hickenlooper, we get conceptual, dissecting the very meaning of innovation, the future of COIN and Colorado—plus, the governor gives some very good advice to those looking to think differently.

Innovators Peak: Do you find that, when talking about things like COIN, that the word “innovation” is hard to define?

Governor Hickenlooper: Innovation is doing anything different. It’s the same way that people talk all the time about leadership. What is leadership? I think we just keep distilling it and leadership is any time you persuade someone to do something they weren’t originally planning to do; to believe something they didn’t believe before.

The beauty of that is everybody can be a leader because we all persuade people from time to time and we all are leaders from time to time. That’s one of the things we’re looking on how to infuse that into COIN, because COIN is basically leadership.

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The 2015 COIN Summit is right around the corner, and those of us at Innovators Peak covering the event are already feeling the buzz of excitement. Maybe it’s because of the incredible array of innovators that will be presenting next week. Or perhaps we’re excited to see what comes out of this year’s XFINITY Innovation Think Tank. 

Regardless of the reason, there are going to be some big names from the technology, entrepreneurial, and nonprofit communities brainstorming and collaborating on how to enable more innovation in their respective field. 

We know from experience that to get the best ideas, you need to open up the discussion to include as many voices as possible. So below we’ve compiled a list of the must-follow social media accounts to get everyone connected to the conversations surrounding COIN 2015 next week. 

Feel free to tweet, comment, question, GIF, and h/t your thumbs off at all these innovators and let’s get the conversation started! And don’t forget to follow the hashtags #COIN2015, #imagineCO, and #thinktank for even more updates from the event.

John W. Hickenlooper, Governor of Colorado (@hickforco)

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COIN Summit 2015 is coming up incredibly fast and we’re getting more excited for it than ever as we continue to plan our coverage of the big event. We’re not alone.

Earlier this year, Anna Ewing took on the role executive director of the Colorado Innovation Network. Today, her excitement for experiencing her first ever COIN Summit is through the roof.

As executive director, Ewing has been leading the effort over the past several months—working tirelessly in in the planning of the event, overseeing the day-to-day, and working with stakeholders in the community to ensure that the COIN mission is carried out and really assist in making Colorado the innovative place to be.

We spoke with her recently to find out how that’s been going, what will be different, the same, and what we should be looking forward to:

Innovators Peak: What will be different about this year’s event as opposed to the prior years?

Anna Ewing: The format will be much of the same. It’s two days here in Denver with roughly 300 innovators from across the ecosystem. Our theme this year is CURIOSITY because any innovation really starts with someone posing a question or having some sort of inquisitive thought about how things are done or how things could be done better. So we developed an entire program steeped in the theme of curiosity in four tracks—each a half-day session looking at innovation from different lenses and how it ultimately effects the business community and the broader world in which we live. There certainly is more Colorado focus this year. We have a number of innovators and thought leaders from this state that will be on stage. One of the ultimate aims is to make known what is happening in out state—celebrating innovation in Colorado.

Anna Ewing.

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COIN.

Colorado’s premier innovation event is back.

As the Colorado Innovation Network’s (COIN) fourth annual Summit approaches, the folks at COIN are looking to hit it out of the park harder than ever before. It’s also where you’ll see the Xfinity Innovation Think Tank! The first of four years with a theme, this year’s delegates are going to be stirring up some innovative ideas for how to change the world by exploring one broad topic:

CURIOSITY.

Kelly Underell, Deputy Director at COIN and one of the organization’s longest serving members, helps us to understand how this is all going to break down:

“We started with curiosity because it is really the foundation of innovation,” she says. “The event has four questions that will really help us to zoom in and take a look at innovation and self.”

The COIN Summit will span two days (August 25 and 26) in the Seawell Grand Ballroom at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. 

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