Innovation takes priority at the Clinton Global Initiative

BusinessWeek has published an article on innovation taking top priority at Clinton Global Initiative. Business leaders are beginning to focus on profitable ways to address humanitarian issues and spurring economic growth.

The CGI, a nonprofit nonpartisan arm of the Clinton Foundation welcomed 960 guests from 84 countries to address this issue.

Innovation, listed first in all program materials and the theme of many of the panels and networking sessions, is clearly the top-of-mind topic. In speeches and hallway conversations, the word is name-dropped as a means for tackling the three other action items.

Bill Clinton opened the event by saying “Innovation is a term that’s used a lot—and often overused. But often it is not fully understood,” Kao says. At the beginning of the panel, he defined it as “not just creativity. It is specifically about creativity that has value.”

William Drayton, founder of an association of social entrepreneurs added that for companies to remain both creative and competitive, they need to accept the 21st century model of invention.