Innovation is alive and well.

That’s what they’re saying in Florida. While attending IIR’s THE Conference on Marketing www.theconferenceonmarketing.com in Naples earlier this week, I was struck by how many marketers have innovation on the top of their minds, the tip of their tongues, and all over their to-do lists. Speakers from GlaxoSmithKline to Pizza Hut to GE to author Malcolm Gladwell shared their thoughts around that increasingly ubiquitous word: innovation.

As we know, the most interesting part of the innovation conversation occurs when you dive below the word itself and start to explore what innovation really means to people and their organizations. From my conversations, here’s what it boiled down to: ideas and relationships.

Everywhere I turned people were talking about how to infuse new thinking into their organizations. From curiosity about emerging technologies and the future of social networking to insights around Chinese consumers, Prime Time women and Xoomers, marketers were gathering inspiration to spark their next great idea. Several speakers mentioned that the lion’s share of their current revenue comes from products and services that didn’t even exist 5 (or 2!) years ago. Marketers have made peace with the ever-increasing pace of change, and their organizations are seeing new ideas pay off in a big way.

While marketers looked for new ideas, innovation practitioners were talking about the importance of collaboration and they ways they are mining the collective intellectual capital within their organizations. From old favorites like collaborative workspaces, to newer ideas like proprietary web solutions innovators are intent on building an environment where the people side of innovation can thrive. Relationships were top of mind with innovators, who understand that great relationships – the kind that include authenticity, transparency, and debate – enable great thinking.

So, judging by what they say in Florida, innovation is alive and well. And remember—judging from recent political history—what Florida says goes.