Last week, Oak Ridge National Laboratory hosted entrepreneurs, researchers, and large and small businesses at the “Bridging the Gap” event to spotlight research with high commercialization potential.  As I listened to the smartest researchers in the world talk about opportunities that lie ahead, I couldn’t help but think about Daniel Boone as he bravely explored the west and “bridged” the Cumberland Gap (please see two previous blogs about Daniel Boone).  I wondered what it would be like to journey into new and sometimes mysterious areas like Daniel.  I thought about how journeying into some of the areas that were proposed to him would require extreme determination, if not reckless abandon. 

 But then I thought about how Daniel knew where he was going because he had been there before.  When he bridged the gap, as described in previous “Spirit of the Pioneer” blogs, his pioneering was not defined by what he didn’t know, but by his knowledge of Kentucky and Tennessee because he had been there before.  The pioneering aspect of what Daniel did was settling his family and friends there.  So, another great lesson and inspiration from Daniel Boone on innovation was learned:  innovate in fertile areas that you know well.

Bridging the Gap covered very fertile ground:  Data Analytics, Advanced Materials, and Clean Tech.  Do you know these areas well?

We all agree that Daniel Boone made a lasting impression on this country.  He is revered for leading the way across the Cumberland Gap just 70 miles north of our office in Knoxville.  Boone made his trek through Tennessee and North Carolina in hopes of a better life, but with little knowledge of what that life would be like.  He chose to make the trek through the coldest part of winter hoping that he would be ready to plant his seeds in spring when he found a suitable place to live. 

Boone’s pioneer spirit seems to live on today in more ways than just the land that we inhabit.  Our country is still known throughout the world today for its pioneers.  Today’s pioneers don’t trek through the snowy valleys of North Carolina, but they trek through uncharted development of technologies, products and services of tomorrow with the great courage, leadership, and hope that Daniel Boone gave us.