Innovations come in all shapes and sizes, but at The Brandery in Over-the-Rhine, only disruptive innovations will do.

“Our job at The Brandery is to create an environment where companies can work and eventually disrupt their industries,” says Rob McDonald, a co-founder of The Brandery, named one of the top 10 seed-stage business accelerators at South by Southwest (SXSW), the interactive conference.

That was one of the innovation insights offered at Cincy Magazine’s annual Power 100 breakfast forum in late February. Presented in conjunction with the University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business and the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, the forum drew more than 300 to the Hyatt Regency downtown for a discussion by some key Power 100 figures that have an important role in the region’s evolving entrepreneurial ecosystem.

McDonald distinguished between what he called discontinuous innovation and sustaining innovation.

“A sustaining innovation might be making an adjustment in an existing product. So, for example, switching from a dial phone to a touch-tone phone. A discontinuous innovation would be switching from a landline to a smart phone.”

As an example, he cited FlightCar, a Brandery company founded by Harvard, MIT and Princeton graduates, that is attempting to transform the airport car rental market by using software for short-term rentals of private cars parked at airports by travelers.

“They’re open in three airports, renting over 2,500 cars a month,” he says.

Besides McDonald, an attorney at Taft Law, the panel led by David M. Szymanski, dean of the Lindner School, included UC President Santa Ono; John Dubis, president and CEO of St. Elizabeth Healthcare; and Brent Cooper, president of C-Forward Information Technologies in Covington.

For Cooper, who is also interim chair of the Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce, innovation starts with the hiring process.

“We make sure when we bring people in that they have a mindset of constantly learning and constantly adapting. Change is an everyday occurrence at C-Forward,” he says.

A provider of computer network and consulting services, C-Forward has averaged 22 percent growth since its founding 15 years ago, he says.

Echoing Cooper’s view, Dubis argues that employees, not management, drive innovation.

“It’s really a bottom-up driven process,” he says. “Our associates take great pride in finding new and better ways of delivering care to patients. It’s something they continually monitor and participate in on their own. We evaluate and recognize important successes because that’s how you reinforce the culture of taking risk, doing something different and making it better for patients. Even those that don’t succeed. It’s not a culture of being negative or punitive. It’s a culture of saying, ‘OK, we tried. Now what can we do to make it better?’ That’s something hard to do in large organizations, particularly health care.”

He also made the connection between innovation and quality.

“Quality is what makes the difference in great health care. We went on a journey back in 1999 and 2000 to really focus on those activities. We require every department, whether clinical or support area like housekeeping, to come up with two to three innovative ways to do their job better. Better quality lowers cost and means better value for our customers.”

Health care is in the midst of the most innovation it’s seen since the arrival of Medicare and Medicaid 50 years ago, he says.

“We’re going from a hospital-based health care system to an ambulatory-based health care system. That’s why St. Elizabeth’s has embraced urgent care centers,” he says. “We recognize we’re going to have to keep people healthier and, as such, have to do things like creating teams of staff that monitor patients’ activities and behaviors to ensure they do the right things.”

Ono says UC sees its role as being a catalyst for innovation in the region. One example is the University of Cincinnati Research Institute, a collaborative effort between private industry and UC faculty and students to solve problems.

In existence for little more than a year, Ono calls it “a smashing success,” involving more than 80 projects.

One of the more visible projects is UC’s partnership between its engineering faculty and GE Aviation to work on next-generation jet engine technology. Another example he cites is UC’s development of a college of medicine and a cooperative education institute in the central Chinese city of Chongqing. He says ultimately those efforts could bring as many as 2,000 Chinese students and $10 million a year to UC.

More than a century ago, UC was a pioneer in the development of cooperative education, and Ono says it’s continuing to innovate in the classroom with new techniques such as interdisciplinary classes.

“[In] the last four years, we’ve been building a different kind of classroom where two or three faculty members from different colleges get together with a group of students from all those colleges where they work on real world problems. That’s how they learn,” he says.

Partners & Sponsors

University of Cincinnati Carl H. Lindner College of Business

As part of a thriving Top 25 research university in a city with 10 Fortune 500 companies, the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati delivers academic excellence with an emphasis on experiential learning in a multi-disciplinary environment. This adds real-world value to the university’s students and the communities they serve.

The college has an enrollment of approximately 3,000 undergraduate and 700 graduate students. It provides students with unique opportunities to build professional experience, cultural competency and leadership skills through co-operative education, internships, field-study research and cross-disciplinary studios.

Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber

The nation’s fifth largest chamber represents the interests of nearly 5,000 member businesses in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. It has been recognized as national Chamber of the Year twice in the past decade. It supports members and the Cincinnati USA region in pursuit of success in today’s global economy.

Its services include business retention and attraction, programs and events, benefits to improve members’ bottom line, solutions to workforce challenges, government advocacy and more, to create and sustain a positive business climate for the community, including demonstrating a commitment to small business assistance and economic inclusion.

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield

Anthem Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Ohio, one of the state’s oldest and largest health insurers, is marking its 75th anniversary this year.

The company, a unit of Indianapolis-based Wellpoint Inc., provides health insurance to 3.3 million Ohioans. It employs more than 3,100 at two Cincinnati locations, including Deerfield Township, its home for nearly 20 years.

Anthem associates in Deerfield Township handle a variety of functions including information technology, customer services, claims, business support, policy underwriting, data analytics, provider relations, sales, marketing and public relations.

Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP

The law firm of Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP has a rich history dating back to 1885. Its partners have included former U.S. Senator Robert A. Taft and former Cincinnati Mayor Charles Taft II, both sons of former President William Howard Taft. Through a series of successful mergers—the most recent in January—Taft has become a premier regional firm with more than 400 attorneys in seven Midwestern cities and Phoenix, Ariz.

Taft is ranked as one of the “Best Law Firms” of 2014 by U.S. News Media Group and is recognized in 21 practice areas nationally. In addition, 133 Taft attorneys, about two-thirds of the firm’s partners, are ranked in the 2014 edition of Best Lawyers in America.

Aileron

Since 1996, Dayton, Ohio-based Aileron has been dedicated to helping private businesses employ disciplined approaches to raise their overall effectiveness. These efforts evolved into a simplified, proven approach to professional management that empowers private businesses to reach new levels of growth.

Today, Aileron’s clients are growing successful businesses, living as valued resources within their communities, and raising the quality of life for their families, their employees and many others.

DePaul Cristo Rey High School

With more than 175 students from across Greater Cincinnati, DePaul Cristo Rey High School in Clifton is the 26th school in the national Cristo Rey Network that provides quality Catholic, college-preparatory education to young people who live in urban communities with limited educational options. All Cristo Rey Network schools use a rigorous academic model supported by effective instruction to prepare students with a broad range of academic abilities for college. Cristo Rey Network schools employ innovative, entrepreneurial and corporate work-study programs that provide students with real world experience.

ITA Audio Visual Solutions

Since 1982, ITA has been providing best-in-class AV services and integrated technology to Fortune 1000 companies, universities, healthcare institutions, small businesses, hotels and meeting facilities.

With corporate offices at Dana Avenue and I-71, ITA offers the distinct advantage of a complete range of integrated services — employing trained, industry-certified customer service and technical professionals to rent, manage, design, sell, install and repair AV systems to corporate clients and hotel partners across the United States.

Outstanding service, combined with the best equipment in the industry, sets the company apart. More information at www.ITA.com

Hyatt Regency Cincinnati

Located near the heart of Cincinnati’s reinvigorated downtown, the Hyatt Regency is the ideal choice for transformed contemporary guestrooms with deluxe amenities and views of the city skyline or Ohio River.

Dine in the Red Roost Tavern, an upscale farm-to-table style restaurant, or grab a bite at Market, offering on-the-go menu options. Swim in the indoor, heated saline pool—the first in downtown—or keep fit in the 24-hour StayFit gym.

The Hyatt offers 33,324 square feet of state-of-the-art meeting, wedding and event space including 18 meeting rooms and the 14,219-square-foot Regency Ballroom, the city’s largest downtown hotel space.