When the state’s economic development leaders talk about attracting workers in the innovation economy to Rhode Island, they are talking about Allan Tear.

The West Virginia native and graduate of Carnegie Mellon University started his career working across the globe for Fortune 500 companies and startups. But after spending a year searching “coast to coast,” Tear and his family settled in 2002 in Providence, a place to “sink our teeth into and make a difference.”

Tear has continued his serial entrepreneurial trends in Rhode Island, co-founding two technology companies – WhyData and Aptus Collaborative. But it is not the details of running a business that excite him. Rather, he says, “I strive to make a difference doing really cool stuff.”

His “day job” these days is Aptus Collaborative, a consulting network that uses global sourcing, collaborative innovation, technology strategy and customer-interaction design to help other companies find new ways to do things.

But his bigger contribution to innovation in Rhode Island may be his work with the Business Innovation Factory, the R.I. Economic Development Corporation project that looks to use Rhode Island as a test laboratory for cutting-edge ideas. Right now, Tear says, they are working on the nursing home of the future.

And in his spare time, he is lending his experience to the city’s social entrepreneurship network, one example of which is HackableCity, a blog for urban citizens that helps them see how they can change their surroundings to make their lives more interesting. Sounds like an innovative idea. •