The Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana, or the LOL, is an amazing example of the kind of innovation stirring the business world.
Markets and economies tend to go through cycles. Large, multi-national companies frequently dominate a market, only to be usurped by a small, innovative company.
The history of computers has given us countless examples of this very idea. Bill Gates takes the computer and moves it into the home — innovative, and very profitable for Mr. Gates.
Google and Apple have recently had their own money-making innovations with similar, out-of-the-box thinking.
Innovation frequently yields a higher standard of living for the society and boosts its economy.
Take, for example, the plow’s benefit to farming. Or the tractor, pesticides and the ability to genetically modify plants to resist being eaten by bugs.
  Video: Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana
 
Countries like India, Brazil and China frequently embrace innovation in the world market, and they are some of the fastest growing economies in the world because of it.
So coveted in business is innovation that it has attained an almost mythical status.
Steve Jobs, co-founder and CEO of Apple, arguably one of the world’s most creative companies, goes so far as to say, “innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower.” And while you may not like Apple products, their explosive financial growth since he became CEO in 1997 cannot be denied.
Jobs is either on to something big, or the luckiest man alive. Ever.
In Chile’s “Start-up Chile” program, aspiring entrepreneurs are given $40,000 in grants and visas if they’re willing to relocate their companies there. They hope the companies and skilled workers will stay permanently, but even if they don’t, Chile believes they will impart valuable skills to native workers who will continue to boost the economy for years to come.
Countries like Chile so firmly believe that start-ups, entrepreneurship and innovative new ideas are critically valuable to economic success, they’re willing to put their money where their mouth is, as the adage goes, and actually do something to encourage people to move their business there.
LOL probably won’t double our agricultural yield this season, or provide jaw-dropping first quarter results, but it is from this same spirit of adventure and imagination that we get things like the personal computer and cell phones.
Entrepreneurs of the University: you may very well be inspired by the Laptop Orchestra of Louisiana’s free circuit-filled symphonies to create the world’s next billion-dollar idea.
  Read: Group uses technology to create imaginative music styles
 
Devin Graham is a 21-year-old business management senior from Prairieville. Follow him on Twitter @TDR_dgraham.
 
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Contact Devin Graham at [email protected]