Welcome to Minnesota's 3rd annual Minnesota Cup competition! I'm proud to announce that this year's contest will be bigger and better than ever - with more Minnesota entrepreneurs getting the help they need to commercialize some great ideas.

In a changing world, our future success depends on our ability to innovate, which is why I launched the first Minnesota Cup in 2005. True to form, Minnesotans did not disappoint. We have received more than 1200 entries from 48 counties across the state in our first two years of the program.

Minnesota is living up to the promise of author Thomas Friedman, who said America can win the global economic battle as "the world's dream machine." Minnesotans are great innovators because we're free to dream. We are blessed with an entrepreneurial spirit that is fueled by a long heritage of innovation. More than half our economic growth comes from industries that barely existed a decade ago, and the search for great ideas - or the discovery of the next big thing - is central to our success.

Think of Earl Baaken tinkering around until he invented the cardiac pacemaker - which became the basis for Medtronic. Or Norman Borlaug, a University of Minnesota plant pathologist who invented a high-yielding strain of wheat - launched the so-called Green Revolution, and fed a hungry world.

Minnesota's corn growers began the ethanol revolution - paving the way to a better energy future. The Mayo Clinic and the University of Minnesota have made Minnesota a world leader in medical devices, research and biotechnology. And Minnesota's bioscience industries are producing breathtaking changes in medicine, health, agriculture, the environment, and many other areas.

Innovation is what Minnesota does best - and I expect the ideas that emerge from this year's competition will demonstrate that spirit. So Minnesotans - crank up that "dream machine" and let the competition begin!

Sincerely,

Tim Pawlenty
Governor