Innovating for a better Hawaii

Jason Thune, director of Strategy and Innovation at Hawaiian Telcom, wants to make Hawaiʻi a better place and believes local innovation and local partnerships are key components to making that happen. From an early age, Thune dreamed about being a pilot and successfully received his commercial pilot’s license while attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. An internship in the airline industry, however, took him on a different path. Although, Thune loves to fly, he decided against it as an occupation. Locally born and raised, Thune always desired to make Hawai`i his home and returned in 2000 to join Hawaiian Telcom. “Leaving allowed me to understand the world and to better appreciate what we have in Hawai`i,” he recalled.

Thune worked in various roles at Hawaiian Telcom and in nine years became the youngest director when he was promoted to oversee various information technology departments in 2009. Recognized as a rising leader, Thune was a recipient of the Pacific Business News 40 Under 40 Award. One of his proudest accomplishments, obtaining $26+ million in federal Connect America Fund and Rural Digital Opportunity Fund grants to help support the deployment of broadband to rural areas in Hawai`i, highlights his community-mindedness and belief that innovation and technology can serve as a catalyst for greater community revitalization. As of 2020, Hawaiian Telcom has deployed broadband service to more than 10,000 rural locations primarily on the neighbor islands.

“You don’t often see instances where companies, communities and the economy all benefit from infrastructure improvements,” said Thune, on obtaining the grants. “Our communities, especially those in Hawai`i, can now have access to everything the internet and online services have to offer.” In the current era of globalization, “it is paramount that Hawai`i stays relevant (with technology) and continues to innovate.”

In his current role, Thune recognized the role innovation plays in diversifying the economy and engaged with the University of Hawaii Office of Innovation and Commercialization (OIC) on a variety of fronts. This past summer, he served as a mentor for both the Hacking 4 Recovery Hawai`i (H4R) program and the Hawaii Business Roundtable (HBR) Signature Innovation Internship program –

helping to educate and inspire the next generation local innovators and entrepreneurs. Having been an intern himself, Thune is keen on fostering the younger generation. Julian Li Vadera, an intern at Hawaiian Telcom, values Thune’s appreciation for independence and creative thinking. “He provides support and allows me to grow. He gave me the freedom to follow my own interests and ideas. I spun my wheels a little but found my way out of it and gained a reliance on myself to drive things forward.”

Thune is also leading HT’s engagement with OIC for the Innovation Impact Challenge (IIC) program, which leverages the entire University of Hawai`i System to come up with problem-solving solutions. Think of it like a mini episode of Shark Tank.

OIC worked with Thune and Hawaiian Telcom to identify challenges facing Hawaiian Telcom and engaged UH researchers and students to develop innovative solutions – solutions that can then be developed and implemented to create businesses, jobs, new sources of revenue, and diversify Hawai`i’s economy.

Thune sees the partnership with OIC as an excellent opportunity to source creative and viable business and technical solutions from the exact demographic the company is attempting to understand and influence. “It is much more effective and has a greater impact to our community than hiring consultants because they have better insight to what’s currently applicable to them and their peers,” he noted. For OIC, partners like Thune and HT are essential to the innovation and entrepreneurship ecosystem. “Jason and Hawaiian Telcom understand the importance of innovation to Hawai`i’s future – and are working side-by-side with our office to inspire local innovators and entrepreneurs, create more opportunities to diversify our economy, create more jobs, and build local businesses that have global impact,” said Sandra Fujiyama, OIC innovation and business development officer.

For Thune, a key lesson learned going through a newfound appreciation for innovation is to not look at traditional solutions to problems but to consciously look for it in places you wouldn’t normally seek. Those places just might be right in our own backyard. (See Innovating at 138 Years Young by Jason Thune)

Innovation, engagement and partnerships with the community are an integral part of Thune’s career. OIC is excited to be partnering with Thune and Hawaiian Telcom on this innovation journey - the real, organic process of inspiring new ideas and innovation and creating meaningful experiences and employment for young people.