Congratulations to our friend and Change Papers partner, Leslie Boney, on his appointment to the first ever North Carolina Innovation Council. Governor Beverly Purdue announced the establishment of the Council yesterday, which will take on the task of fostering strategic investments and forming policies to stimulate the growing knowledge and innovation economy.

We wholeheartedly agree with the Governor, who said in her announcement, “To continue growing jobs in North Carolina we must make sure this state is poised to compete globally in the 21st century. Innovation is North Carolina’s launch pad to success in the global economy, and it’s a primary way for us to maintain and sharpen our competitive edge.”

Look back to the Wright Brothers, the formation of the first ever State University and the men and women who assembled the Research Triangle Park, and it’s clear that North Carolina has a long and rich history of innovation. Our task for the 21st century is to build on this strength, grow our economy, and keep North Carolina competitive.

Leslie, our hats are off to you.

Hopefully, many of you are aware of a project Matthew Muñoz and I have undertaken with Leslie Boney — www.changepapers.org. In a recent post, one of our readers posted this quote from Machiavelli:

“One should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new system of things: for he who introduces it has all those who profit from the old system as his enemies, and he has only lukewarm allies in all those who might profit from the new system. (more…)