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It’s not enough to just be innovative.

Like an Apple or Google, local business and economic development leaders need to strive for “game changing innovation” and not be afraid to fail, said Dale Brill, the director of Florida’s Office of Tourism, Trade and Economic Development speaking Thursday to a crowd of more than 100 at the Hilton Naples.

He spoke at the annual meeting of the Economic Development Council of Collier County, which has the mission of creating high skilled, high wage jobs.

“Innovation is where it’s at,” said Brill, a former marketing officer for VISIT Florida, the state’s tourism marketing arm.

When Brill was 26, he said, he started a magazine that was an “absolute failure.” He encouraged applause from the audience after telling them the story. A part of success, he said, is “being OK with failure.”

He said two of the most important factors in trying to lure companies to an area is ensuring a good quality of life and building an education system that is “second to none.”

“Don’t wait for government,” he said.

While economic development leaders often rely on government incentives to draw companies or encourage them to expand in an area, he said, it’s a hard game to win because it becomes about who can write the biggest check. He said the business community must work on its own to promote economic development, including investing its own money into projects.

It’s important to look at the successes of other communities in growing good high-paying jobs and to learn from them, he said.

One of the success stories in Florida comes from Orlando. Ray Gilley, president and CEO of the Metro Orlando Economic Development Commission, spoke about his agency’s role in attracting more than 150 biotech and life science companies to his area. They include the prestigious Burnham Institute for Medical Research, which recently expanded to Orlando from La Jolla, Calif.

To win the institute, private investors agreed to put up millions of dollars.

“We’re trying things and not everything we try works,” Gilley said.

The area also tried to land the Scripps Research Institute, a state-of-the-art biomedical research center, but lost out to Palm Beach County.

“We learned a lot from that failure,” Gilley said.

The goal, he said, is to position the Orlando area as “the world’s premier business location.” Progress is being made in an area, though its economy still relies heavily on the tourism industry driven by its theme parks.

Orlando’s Economic Development Commission targets various industries in its recruitment efforts including film and television, corporate headquarters and clean technology. But a big focus is on its biotech and life sciences cluster, which continue to expand. About 9,248 people work in these industries in the area, which generate about $2.6 billion in earnings, Gilley said.

Donations from businesses, foundations and individuals are also helping to build the

University of Central Florida’s new medical school.

The medical school and the Burnham Institute are both part of a 7,000-acre “medical city” known as Lake Nona. More than 700 acres of the mixed-use project, which includes residences, will be dedicated to the life sciences and biotech industries.