June is Innovation Month

...at least according to Scott Kirsner of the Boston Globe.  Scott is encouraging his readers to think about ways to revive the New England economy from its doldrums by supporting new innovators and innovations.  You can visit his website for ideas on how to "make new connections, share your expertise, find out about and support new ventures. Help accelerate some of the important, cool, life-saving, world-changing innovations being developed here in New England."

Having worked in high tech in New England for the past 28 years, here are my favorite innovations and innovators that I've had the opportunity to work with in no particular order:

• Our own Mark Ain - father of the computerized timeclock and founder of the world's leading workforce management software company
• Lotus Notes - first in collaborative computing.  Sharepoint is still trying to catch up!
• An Wang - a genius and a very gracious man.
• Wang Imaging - ahead of its time, but gave me the opportunity to travel the world educating hundreds of consultants on business process improvement.
• John Landry - a wild man on the dance floor and prescient force of nature.  You called it on eCommerce in 1994!
• Mark Dane - visionary and pragmatic, you never forget the customer.
• My colleagues at BrassRing - we had a wild ride, leading the way to applicant tracking on the Internet

Who's your favorite innovator today?