Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe

What could government do if more elected leaders understood what it takes to build new innovation businesses? To begin to explore this topic, I spoke with Daniel Koh, candidate for Congress in MA-6, about startups, AI, housing, talent, and what innovation policy looks like beyond big legislation. Watch: lnkd.in/eKHWuznY #WhereInnovationHappens #Innovation #Startups

Founders often fall in love with their idea before they really understand the customer’s real problem. That idea stayed with me from my conversation with Marvin Göldner of Startup Incubator Berlin at CIC Berlin. In the below episode of my podcast, we talked about “zero to one,” UX testing, Berlin’s startup ecosystem, and why innovation needs places where people can keep showing up, testing ideas, and building trust. Watch: youtu.be/H20pRFhfqqM #WhereInnovationHappens #Startups #Berlin

I’m catching up on a few episodes of Where Innovation Happens that I recorded earlier this year but didn’t get a chance to edit. So I’ll be releasing an episode a day or so for a few days. In this episode, I talk with Berlin-based entrepreneur Jorge Ferreira, founder of LIQUIDLOOP GmbH. He is an expert at (actually) creating things out of thin air. With the right catalysts, electricity, and reaction conditions, it is possible to take elements found in the air, like CO₂ and hydrogen, and convert them into molecules such as ethylene. From ethylene, you can make polyethylene polymers such as HDPE, the basic material used in plastic milk jugs, water pipes, picnic tables, and many other everyday products. This is pretty crazy. Jorge and his team are building tools that help scientists see what is happening inside complex chemical reactions in real time. We also talk about Berlin, his move from Portugal, and how Berlin’s energy helped lead him to build a company around a fulfilling scientific challenge with wide-ranging applications. Watch on YouTube: youtu.be/TzRt8M12t70 Listen on Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3L8grR… Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/16-…

What if the most important thing an innovation hub does is create trust between people? I just published an episode of Where Innovation Happens where I talk with Ewa Geresz, Director of Venture Café Berlin, about how innovation communities are built. Youtube: youtu.be/WaT_1LLDHTA Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/09LYwN… Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/15-…

I just posted my latest episode of Where Innovation Happens. This is a conversation with German innovation ecosystem leader and my colleague, Timon Rupp. We talk about how innovation is changing around the world, CIC Berlin, mobility innovation, building ecosystems, and how people can participate in the next wave of innovation. YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=WhObqI… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/3RPHYP… Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/14-… #WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #CICBerlin #TheDrivery #InnovationHubs #GermanyInnovation #MobilityInnovation

Given CIC’s launch this week of our third site in Japan — O-Nexus in Osaka — the timing feels right to release my first of several episodes focused on innovation in Japan. I spoke with Tak Umezawa, a national innovation leader and Chair of CIC Japan, about Japan’s strengths, its modest VC investment relative to other innovation economies, and what it would take for more Japanese innovation to reach the world. Tak is also an old friend: we were classmates at MIT Sloan 33 years ago. Watch or listen here (or on Spotify/Apple): youtu.be/a0S7vIp80os #WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #Japan #Innovation #CICJapan #ONexus

The bottleneck is judgment. In a new Where Innovation Happens episode I released today, I talked with Sheamus McGovern, author of The AI Skill Flip and founder/CEO of ODSC AI. My takeaway: the future may belong less to people who simply “use AI,” and more to people who learn how to direct it, challenge it, and make better decisions with it. YouTube: youtu.be/-mbn452O_xk Spotify: lnkd.in/eSQMdXNv Apple Podcasts: lnkd.in/ebYw8ur2 #WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #AI #FutureOfWork #AISkills

I’m already seeing the shift. At CIC, our General Counsel recently reconsidered whether he needed to create a Deputy GC role, realizing AI could help him do some parts of his work much faster. For my podcast, AI turned hours of caption cleanup into minutes. My daughter used AI to automate a research prep task that had taken hours. This will affect the job market. But it may also change what people are capable of doing.

A lot of people are asking: “Will AI take my job?” I’m starting to think that may not be the right question.

I posted a new episode of Where Innovation Happens today. It is a departure from my usual topics, focused on something most of us could get better at when building an innovation business: Choosing who to interview. Part 1 is about selecting candidates from resumes. Part 2 will be about conducting great interviews. In this episode, Karina Wozniak, CIC’s Global Head of Human Resources, turns the tables and interviews me. YouTube: youtu.be/PpnxjLYYwVk Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/609b05… Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/11-… #WhereInnovationHappens #Hiring #Recruiting #StartupHiring #CICnow

I just published an episode of my podcast, Where Innovation Happens, focused on innovation in St. Louis, Missouri. Long one of America’s great cities, St. Louis is now building strengths in AgTech, plant science, geospatial technology, financial services, biotech, and deep tech. Listen in if you are interested in how older industrial cities can reinvent themselves and maintain a leading position as innovation cities. YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=2hHlJC… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1LWSmL… Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/8-i… #WhereInnovationHappens #StLouis #AgTech #Geospatial #CICnow

I have been thinking a lot recently about why we don’t know how to build enough homes people can afford. For example, Massachusetts has extraordinary universities, world-class technology, deep capital, and one of the strongest innovation ecosystems in the world, and yet our average new house costs 2.5x what our average citizen can afford. I think this is a solvable problem. The key is to stop treating housing as a subsidy problem (find some tax dollars and buy down the cost of houses for those with the least money) and to start treating it as an innovation problem (learn to make houses that are inherently less costly). I laid out a path to do this (starting around minute ) in a recent fireside chat at UMass Lowell: YouTube: lnkd.in/eFbWzDYC Spotify: lnkd.in/eWbGiRYp Apple: lnkd.in/eQeji4Jg #HousingInnovation #AffordableHousing #Massachusetts #WhereInnovationHappens

I’ve been getting to know Türkiye better recently. Earlier this year I joined Burak Dağlıoğlu, President of Türkiye’s Investment Office, on stage at WebSummit Doha. Last week, I sat down in Cambridge with his VP, Bekir Polat, for Where Innovation Happens. We talked about Türkiye’s startup ecosystem, engineering talent, global connectivity, Bayraktar drones, gaming, fintech, AI, logistics, Turkish “Turcorns,” and why more investors should be paying attention. The bigger question: how do countries turn talent and ambition into global innovation success? YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=_tc5Y7… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/2nW6Mm… Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-… #WhereInnovationHappens #Türkiye #Startups #Innovation #VC #AI #Fintech #Gaming #Turcorns

Poland is becoming one of Europe’s most interesting startup ecosystems. For this episode of Where Innovation Happens, I spoke at CIC Warsaw with Bartosz “Bartek” Lipnicki, Managing Director of Endeavor Poland, about founders, scaling, and why world-class companies are increasingly coming out of Poland. Watch: youtube.com/watch?v=Xem46i… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/1Yv1vF… Apple Podcasts: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/ep-… We talked about ElevenLabs, the Polish-founded AI voice company that recently reached decacorn status, as well as ICEYE, Docplanner, Booksy, CampusAI, and the broader momentum building in Warsaw and beyond. Bartek also explains Endeavor’s global model: a founder-to-founder network helping high-impact entrepreneurs scale internationally, access the right people and capital, and then give back to the next generation. A key theme: the "multiplier effect": when successful entrepreneurs mentor, invest in, and inspire other founders, entire ecosystems start to believe bigger things are possible. That idea is very close to the work we have tried to do through CIC and Venture Café: helping build the places, networks, and communities where innovation happens. This conversation is about Poland, Endeavor, and how world-changing companies can emerge far beyond the usual startup capitals. #WhereInnovationHappens #Poland #Warsaw #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #ElevenLabs #Endeavor

I sat down in Dublin with Patrick Walsh, founder and head of Dogpatch Labs, to talk about Dublin’s startup ecosystem. Dublin has long been a major EU base for global big tech. Now, after decades of maturing its tech workforce, many of those people are building startups. Dogpatch is right at the center of that story. A great conversation on hubs, talent, and how cities become places where innovation happens. Youtube: youtube.com/watch?v=7RZ9TR… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4Qd5bp… Apple podcasts should sync in the next 24 hours.

My wedding ring. Getting it re-sized more than two sizes down! Thanks to Eli Lilly.

What makes an innovation hub truly great? In the new “manifesto episode” of Where Innovation Happens, I propose the idea of an innovation mecca: A place that becomes the place for elite talent in a field. A place of pilgrimage. The “Hollywood” of its industry. Can we build these deliberately? I think we can. YouTube: youtube.com/watch?v=9zqMML… Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/7ESqW8…

The current crisis has drawn the world’s attention, but it would be a mistake to see the whole region through that lens alone. Qatar, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have been building serious innovation economies for years. I discussed that recently at Web Summit Qatar: youtu.be/X5Ntl6p6xPs

I've just pushed my third podcast episode: a conversation with two of the world's most vibrant innovation driving organizations: France's Station F and UK's Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA). Enjoy! youtu.be/K6ePoaI9g4U