Posted by: Contributing columnist, CLARION LEDGER FEATURE, BUSINESS, October 21, 2015: 
For the third year in a row, Gov. Phil Bryant has declared November as “Innovation Month” to highlight the significant innovation activity in the state and challenge individuals and organizations to do more to promote and grow the innovation economy in Mississippi. Primarily through the work of the Mississippi Development Authority; Maris, West, & Baker Advertising Agency; and Innovate Mississippi, Innovation Month has featured more than 30 events each year and looks to be even more active this year.
Work has just begun to put all of the events on the calendar for this November, and I invite anyone who has an event to post it by clicking “Submit an Event” on the Innovation Economy Website at www.MSInnovationEconomy.com/calendar/.
Frankly, the first year we pulled together several events that were already scheduled or that could be moved to November, but even that year there were several events that were completely conceived and planned in response to Gov. Bryant’s declaration. Most notably, there was one of the state’s first “hour of code” events that earned a Ridgeland elementary school $10,000 from Apple because of its 100 percent participation rate. Jackson State University also pulled together an innovation day in year one that highlighted all of the research activity of each department at JSU.
By last year, Jackson State had expanded its Innovation Day to a whole Innovation Week that featured activities from each department and culminated in an awards ceremony that drew faculty, staff and students together around innovation. The hour of code that had been done at one elementary school in 2013 also expanded in 2014 under the Kids Code Program to include 36 elementary schools in 14 school districts.
Innovate Mississippi’s Conference on Technology Innovation was already in its 14th year when November 2013 was declared Mississippi’s first Innovation Month, but the conference now anchors the month as the pinnacle event to highlight and bring together the state’s innovation economy leaders. This year’s conference is Nov. 10-11 and features live company pitches from technology startups and will honor the entrepreneurs highlighted in the book “Mississippi Entrepreneurs” by Polly Dement. Dement will be the keynote speaker, and several of the entrepreneurs will have prominent roles in the event in addition to being honored at the luncheon on Nov. 11.
TEDx Jackson, the state’s first TED Talks related event, debuted as another anchor event of Innovation Month last November and featured a talk by Mississippi’s own Kermit the Frog that has been an Internet sensation all over the world. Of course, Kermit was the creation of Mississippi native Jim Henson, but to my knowledge this was his first talk in his home state. Even if Kermit wasn’t a Mississippian, it is a really great talk and I definitely encourage anyone to watch it online. This year’s TEDx Jackson event is Nov. 12 at the Jackson Convention Complex.
Another popular event, Startup Weekend, will be held the first weekend of November in Hattiesburg. Startup Weekends are awesome events where anyone with an idea pitches it on Friday night, forms a team and turns those ideas into real companies by Sunday evening. Some companies have even had customers by Sunday. Startup Weekend Hattiesburg, held Nov. 8-10, will be the first Startup Weekend in Hattiesburg but will be the 10th of these events conducted by Innovate Mississippi. Startup Weekends will be held between November and April in Jackson, Oxford and Starkville.
While the calendar is filling up with exciting events for Innovation Month, we do need your help in getting more events on the calendar. It’s actually a great part of the November Innovation Month process that events that no one even knew were going on can be brought into the Innovation Month Calendar and connected and promoted through social media under a single banner. As I mentioned, please visit the website at www.MSInnovationEconomy.com to upload event information or to see what other events are listed.
Tony Jeff is the president and CEO of Innovate Mississippi. He can be reached at tjeff@innovate.ms.