The creative and instinctive nature of innovation will now be channeled through, yes, a government agency.

Gov. Bev Perdue, by executive order, established the state's first Innovation Council on Monday. The group's mission is to: coordinate public and private investment to promote innovation, help move ideas faster from the lab to the marketplace and improve the collaboration between business, academia and government.

Perdue announced the creation of the council during a visit to the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem.

The council will be chaired by Al Delia, senior adviser to Perdue, and Steve Nelson, managing partner of the Wakefield Group.

(Dome wanted to provide a link to the Wakefield Group's Web site but found the site was down and has been for months. Nelson said the firm was receiving too many unsolicited business offers over the Internet and doesn't need to market itself on the web.)

UPDATE: Click the attachment to see the council's members.

Gov. Beverly Perdue has shifted two of her top aides but has not added any staff or changed any salaries.

Al Delia, Perdue's policy director, moves over to an as-yet-untitled role under Chief of Staff Zach Ambrose, overseeing parts of Perdue's office.

Michael Arnold, deputy policy director, moves up to the top spot.

Press Secretary Chrissy Pearson said the moves were aimed at improving the office's operation.

"We’re streamlining operations for better internal communications," Pearson said, "and better external outreach."

Gov. Beverly Perdue's new communications and policy adviser says he wanted to come home.

Greensboro native and Appalachian State grad Pearse Edwards said he has enjoyed working for Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire -- both governors are Democrats -- but he wanted to move back to North Carolina.

“I'm not a big fan of winters in the northwest,” Edwards said Thursday.

He expects to play a role similar to what he has done for Gregoire, helping integrate the communications, policy and government relations functions of the governor's office.

“Policy is complex,” he said. “There’s a real need for the people to get a better understanding of what government is doing.”

Perdue already has a communications director, David Kochman; a senior adviser for government relations, Andy Willis, and a policy director, Al Delia. Their salaries are $115,200, $153,000 and $160,000 respectively.

Edwards, who will be paid $136,000, will not supervise those staffers. They will still report to Chief of Staff Zach Ambrose.

More after the jump.

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