A few weeks ago, the incomparable Lovisa Williams, wrote a post on the need to start finding new, creative solutions to governmental problems. The emphasis in the post being that people will be the driver of change. Moreover, she challenged people to think about how to create an environment that fosters and encourages innovation. I have thought about this topic myself and Lovisa's post made me to reflect further on what type of people (from a human capital perspective) would be essential to establishing an "Innovation Lab" (I think Scott Horvath used this term is response to Lovisa's post, but I can't find the Tweet).

Essential Skills for a Web 2.0/ 3.0 World
My first thoughts on how to create an innovation group was very focused on the skill sets that the group would need. This included:

• Developers/ coders - technically strong people that have experience developing with and in the open source community (API development would be a part of this)
  
• Video/ Multimedia - video will only get bigger and this is an area that integrates with many more platforms
  
• Mobile - hard to overemphaisze the importance of this and how it is chagning EVERYTHING
  
• Metrics - critical to be able measure and assess the effort and resources being used
  
• Network (Social) Analysis - important to take a much more analytical approach to how networks work, information flows and what actually influences behavior
  
• Gaming - moving forward, this cannot be ignored if you want to REALLY engage people - even if it only taking lessons learned from gaming community
  
• Geolocation - location, location, location
  

Essential PEOPLE for a Web 2.0/ 3.0 World
However, after more thoughtful reflection, I began to realize that the most innovative and creative people are not defined by their skill set but more by their outlook and perspective on life. That being the case, I would suggest looking at the following qualities in people when trying to initiate and foster an atmosphere of innovation:

1. Little fear of failure - innovation thrives when people are willing to take chances
2. Small ego - people not overly concerned with their image will be less concerned when things go wrong (this may go hand in hand with #1)
3. Willing to collaborate - these days, the complexity of the challenges that face us DEMAND that we work together
4. Willing to listen - innovation can often come from listening to what people's real needs are, not just what everyone else thinks they are
5. Diverse set of life experiences - fresh insight frequently comes from coming at a problem from a different persective. People that have a diverse set of experience may be more likely to use different approaches/ perspectives to solve a problem.

So who would you invite to the table?