Tim Rowe (he/him)

Tim Rowe is Founder and CEO of CIC and CIC Health, and the proud father of three.

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

Happy birthday, America!

As many here know. I founded a company in America, Cambridge Innovation Center, that supports entrepreneurs and innovators to turn their ideas into successful companies that make the world better.

I have found that America is a remarkable place to do this. We are confident that we can come up with a better mousetrap (light bulb, cure for cancer...), we are willing to risk everything to pursue our dreams, we are willing to support others to do the same. We are willing to take a risk and buy a crazy new product, sometimes even before it has been made (thank you for that idea, Kickstarter!) and this, in the words of the great American poet Robert Frost... this willingness to take a different path and support others to do so, has made all the difference.

We are the engine of the world's innovation. The standard-bearer for how this is done.

This American ethos has worked out in a breathtaking way. Nine of the the world's ten most valuable companies are American innovation companies. And these are not ancient companies built on extracting natural resources or old money. They are startups... built in my lifetime purely on the back of great ideas. Our creative ingenuity has become an inspiration to the world, and consequently proud and capable countries as far as China are embracing our ways and are following in our footsteps.

There are many keys to our success. At the top of that list is our openness to allow everyone to follow the American dream, no matter who they are, what they look like, what beliefs they hold, or what country they were born in.

Bravo America, and happy birthday.

I am proud to be an American on this 250th anniversary of our great nation.

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

Also, this Japanese TV show about Aya came out today. It follows her life, and includes a sentimental and beautiful retelling of her reconnecting with her father 10 years after her parents' divorce. Amongst other things, it features our cat Løve!

[Aya Rowe🇺🇸 納豆屋 @AyaRowe]

「グッと！地球便」を見て、メッセージをくださった方々、ありがとうございました！

関西にお住まいの方や、見逃してしまった方は、ぜひTVerで見ていただけると嬉しいです☺️

今回の放送を通して、これまで知らなかった父の思いを知ることができました。

素敵な番組を作ってくださった皆さまに、心から感謝しています。

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

My wife founded a company called Aya's Culture Kitchen that makes Japanese fermented soybeans here in the US (natto and miso). Recently her story has really blown up in Japan, and she there have been a number of TV and print articles about her. Two big ones came out today. If you understand Japanese, the post here has the links to articles on Shukan Bunshun Online, a pretty big weekly that usually focuses on celebrities.

[Aya Rowe🇺🇸 納豆屋 @AyaRowe]

文春オンラインさんに取材していただきました。

私の生い立ち、夫との関係、アメリカで納豆屋を始めるまでの経緯などを、5本の記事にしていただいています。

かなり個人的な話もしていますが、よかったら読んでいただけると嬉しいです。記事はコメ欄に1〜5本まで、ツリーにしてあります

【1本目】「教頭が生徒と一緒に麻薬」「大麻を持って廊下を歩いて…」10歳で渡米→27歳上アメリカ人と結婚した日本人女性（32）が明かす、現地での“衝撃的な学校生活”
https://t.co/l9X7T1aCEh

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

After the amazing Pebble watch was discontinued at the end of 2016, I kept wearing it. It was simple and I found it better than the over-engineered smart watches that followed. I'm excited today that, with the company coming back to life, I was able to replace my legacy Pebble with... a new Pebble!

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

What could government do if more elected leaders understood what it takes to build new innovation businesses?

To begin to explore this topic, I spoke with Daniel Koh, candidate for Congress in MA-6, about startups, AI, housing, talent, and what innovation policy looks like beyond big legislation.

Watch: https://t.co/yxuemTNBQN

#WhereInnovationHappens #Innovation #Startups

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

Founders often fall in love with their idea before they really understand the customer’s real problem.

That idea stayed with me from my conversation with Marvin Göldner of Startup Incubator Berlin at CIC Berlin.

In the below episode of my podcast, we talked about “zero to one,” UX testing, Berlin’s startup ecosystem, and why innovation needs places where people can keep showing up, testing ideas, and building trust.

Watch: https://t.co/Wkl6Owlhkm

#WhereInnovationHappens #Startups #Berlin

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I’m catching up on a few episodes of Where Innovation Happens that I recorded earlier this year but didn’t get a chance to edit.

So I’ll be releasing an episode a day or so for a few days.

In this episode, I talk with Berlin-based entrepreneur Jorge Ferreira, founder of LIQUIDLOOP GmbH.

He is an expert at (actually) creating things out of thin air.

With the right catalysts, electricity, and reaction conditions, it is possible to take elements found in the air, like CO₂ and hydrogen, and convert them into molecules such as ethylene.

From ethylene, you can make polyethylene polymers such as HDPE, the basic material used in plastic milk jugs, water pipes, picnic tables, and many other everyday products.

This is pretty crazy.

Jorge and his team are building tools that help scientists see what is happening inside complex chemical reactions in real time.

We also talk about Berlin, his move from Portugal, and how Berlin’s energy helped lead him to build a company around a fulfilling scientific challenge with wide-ranging applications.

Watch on YouTube:
https://t.co/ZoiOWbx6nI
Listen on Spotify:
https://t.co/IHfUsz1uXo

Apple Podcasts:
https://t.co/b0wXJ5jfM6

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

What if the most important thing an innovation hub does is create trust between people?

I just published an episode of Where Innovation Happens where I talk with Ewa Geresz, Director of Venture Café Berlin, about how innovation communities are built.

Youtube: https://t.co/N4KzvDGEDE

Spotify: https://t.co/RLOrvAkAyx

Apple: https://t.co/OpxhsLdCV8

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I just posted my latest episode of Where Innovation Happens.

This is a conversation with German innovation ecosystem leader and my colleague, Timon Rupp.

We talk about how innovation is changing around the world, CIC Berlin, mobility innovation, building ecosystems, and how people can participate in the next wave of innovation.

YouTube: https://t.co/eZR58qRgKD

Spotify: https://t.co/u8tZHM5Wtz

Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/0jAIcjrGsK

#WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #CICBerlin #TheDrivery #InnovationHubs #GermanyInnovation #MobilityInnovation

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

Given CIC’s launch this week of our third site in Japan — O-Nexus in Osaka — the timing feels right to release my first of several episodes focused on innovation in Japan.

I spoke with Tak Umezawa, a national innovation leader and Chair of CIC Japan, about Japan’s strengths, its modest VC investment relative to other innovation economies, and what it would take for more Japanese innovation to reach the world.

Tak is also an old friend: we were classmates at MIT Sloan 33 years ago.

Watch or listen here (or on Spotify/Apple):
https://t.co/Z6xv03lmza
#WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #Japan #Innovation #CICJapan #ONexus

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

The bottleneck is judgment.

In a new Where Innovation Happens episode I released today, I talked with Sheamus McGovern, author of The AI Skill Flip and founder/CEO of ODSC AI.

My takeaway: the future may belong less to people who simply “use AI,” and more to people who learn how to direct it, challenge it, and make better decisions with it.

YouTube: https://t.co/rnD7iz4Oan
Spotify: https://t.co/bIM4ZlEUDT
Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/3Mx2armh7M

#WhereInnovationHappens #CICnow #AI #FutureOfWork #AISkills

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

A lot of people are asking:

“Will AI take my job?”

I’m starting to think that may not be the right question.

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I’m already seeing the shift.

At CIC, our General Counsel recently reconsidered whether he needed to create a Deputy GC role, realizing AI could help him do some parts of his work much faster.

For my podcast, AI turned hours of caption cleanup into minutes.

My daughter used AI to automate a research prep task that had taken hours.

This will affect the job market.

But it may also change what people are capable of doing.

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I posted a new episode of Where Innovation Happens today.

It is a departure from my usual topics, focused on something most of us could get better at when building an innovation business:

Choosing who to interview.

Part 1 is about selecting candidates from resumes.

Part 2 will be about conducting great interviews.

In this episode, Karina Wozniak, CIC’s Global Head of Human Resources, turns the tables and interviews me.

YouTube: https://t.co/5AIWttKZgJ

Spotify: https://t.co/7fsEWwHk1V

Apple: https://t.co/bOhwD2RK5W

#WhereInnovationHappens #Hiring #Recruiting #StartupHiring #CICnow

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I just published an episode of my podcast, Where Innovation Happens, focused on innovation in St. Louis, Missouri.

Long one of America’s great cities, St. Louis is now building strengths in AgTech, plant science, geospatial technology, financial services, biotech, and deep tech.

Listen in if you are interested in how older industrial cities can reinvent themselves and maintain a leading position as innovation cities.

YouTube: https://t.co/6lgJLvIa6H
Spotify: https://t.co/kxrIqGdvYt
Apple: https://t.co/8nsoN6nFmj

#WhereInnovationHappens #StLouis #AgTech #Geospatial #CICnow

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I have been thinking a lot recently about why we don’t know how to build enough homes people can afford.

For example, Massachusetts has extraordinary universities, world-class technology, deep capital, and one of the strongest innovation ecosystems in the world, and yet our average new house costs 2.5x what our average citizen can afford.

I think this is a solvable problem. The key is to stop treating housing as a subsidy problem (find some tax dollars and buy down the cost of houses for those with the least money) and to start treating it as an innovation problem (learn to make houses that are inherently less costly).

I laid out a path to do this (starting around minute ) in a recent fireside chat at UMass Lowell:

YouTube: https://t.co/xlqM3dYHYN
Spotify: https://t.co/Gc7Q7TiTwH
Apple: https://t.co/gwkHDmhbiL
#HousingInnovation #AffordableHousing #Massachusetts #WhereInnovationHappens

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I’ve been getting to know Türkiye better recently.

Earlier this year I joined Burak Dağlıoğlu, President of Türkiye’s Investment Office, on stage at WebSummit Doha.

Last week, I sat down in Cambridge with his VP, Bekir Polat, for Where Innovation Happens.

We talked about Türkiye’s startup ecosystem, engineering talent, global connectivity, Bayraktar drones, gaming, fintech, AI, logistics, Turkish “Turcorns,” and why more investors should be paying attention.

The bigger question: how do countries turn talent and ambition into global innovation success?

YouTube: https://t.co/SgUqBwrIBW

Spotify: https://t.co/Y5vjqFE8Yt

Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/2aRMTcC86Q

#WhereInnovationHappens #Türkiye #Startups #Innovation #VC #AI #Fintech #Gaming #Turcorns

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

Poland is becoming one of Europe’s most interesting startup ecosystems.

For this episode of Where Innovation Happens, I spoke at CIC Warsaw with Bartosz “Bartek” Lipnicki, Managing Director of Endeavor Poland, about founders, scaling, and why world-class companies are increasingly coming out of Poland.

Watch: https://t.co/qR2spHpbj2
Spotify: https://t.co/meel95WppT
Apple Podcasts: https://t.co/UUQlJVUWEq

We talked about ElevenLabs, the Polish-founded AI voice company that recently reached decacorn status, as well as ICEYE, Docplanner, Booksy, CampusAI, and the broader momentum building in Warsaw and beyond.
Bartek also explains Endeavor’s global model: a founder-to-founder network helping high-impact entrepreneurs scale internationally, access the right people and capital, and then give back to the next generation.

A key theme: the "multiplier effect": when successful entrepreneurs mentor, invest in, and inspire other founders, entire ecosystems start to believe bigger things are possible. That idea is very close to the work we have tried to do through CIC and Venture Café: helping build the places, networks, and communities where innovation happens.

This conversation is about Poland, Endeavor, and how world-changing companies can emerge far beyond the usual startup capitals.

#WhereInnovationHappens #Poland #Warsaw #Startups #Entrepreneurship #Innovation #ElevenLabs #Endeavor

[Tim Rowe (he/him) @rowe]

I sat down in Dublin with Patrick Walsh, founder and head of Dogpatch Labs, to talk about Dublin’s startup ecosystem.

Dublin has long been a major EU base for global big tech. Now, after decades of maturing its tech workforce, many of those people are building startups.

Dogpatch is right at the center of that story.

A great conversation on hubs, talent, and how cities become places where innovation happens.

Youtube: https://t.co/Fvwp3KHBAd
Spotify: https://t.co/w6ZSBN1d1Q
Apple podcasts should sync in the next 24 hours.