Innovation Collective started in 2013 in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho with a simple bet: if you unleash the creator in everyone, the economy follows. Thirteen years later, the bet keeps paying off, from a lake town in North Idaho to the world's largest maker campus in Nevada.
The repeatable engine behind every transformation, from BETTER.
A narrative built on the real strengths of your people and place, aimed at real industry needs, with genuine buy-in from the whole community.
Celebrating wins relentlessly, inside the community and out to the world, so momentum compounds instead of fading.
Telling that story to regional, national, and global stakeholders to align long-term support, partners, and investment.
Founded in Coeur d'Alene. Recurring gatherings turn neighbors into a founder community.
Robotics goes regional. Think Big at NIC. A robotics MOU with Kootenai Health, Jobs Plus, and U of Idaho. A Tokyo robotics professor joins.
The Den. A 25-years-vacant Elks building becomes the 34,000 ft² Innovation Den. 50+ companies eventually call it home.
Statewide. 40+ startups and $34M deployed. Inspire Idaho launches free tech education across five cities with U of Idaho and Apple's curriculum.
Global. Build_ active in 62 cities across six continents. Coeur d'Alene is the blueprint.
World's largest. Nevada designates the Oddie campus. Build Nevada launches with a pathway to $112.9M. CdA ranks #7 best-performing small city.
BETTER: How to Build Creative Communities That Transform the World is founder Nick Smoot's field guide to the method: the culture-first thesis, social capital as economic infrastructure, The Magic 3, and the full Coeur d'Alene story.
Read it, then come argue with us about it. We love that.
If our story sounds like the beginning of your community's story, let's talk.
