Prior to a recent trip to Toronto I tweeted:

Looking forward to getting an innovation fix in Toronto.  I swear innovation is in the air up there.

I meant it.  There are just some places that give off an innovation vibe.  I feel it every time I visit Toronto.

David Olive, a business columnist, for the Toronto Star saw the tweet and my recent Business Week column, Needed Urban Innovation Hot Spots.   He called and we kicked around the potential for Toronto to become an innovation hot spot.  I share his conclusion that the answer is yes and that it is likely to be citizen led.

Here is David Olive’s article: Toronto a ‘Laboratory of Urban Innovation’

I apologize to my friends in Toronto having to wake up on Sunday morning to my mug in their local newspaper.  I don’t apologize for starting an important local conversation and hope it continues among local innovators and spreads to other cities.

It is an honor to find myself in the tall cotton being mentioned along side my friend Richard Florida. The Rise of the Creative Class changed the way many of us think about the importance of human capital to urban development and economic prosperity.  Richard’s new book The Great Reset is on my must read list.  I am grateful that Richard is on the Research Advisory Council of the Business Innovation Factory.

While I readily accept the label of innovation junkie and catalyst I think David reaches in labeling me an urban planning guru.  Richard Florida is an urban planning guru.  I’m no guru, but that doesn’t stop me from sharing a point of view.

We need more cities to take up the challenge of becoming innovation hot spots.