Innovation and collaboration can equal problem-solving.

That’s essentially what Bill Clinton told attendees at the CTIA tradeshow, pointing to the wireless industry as a good example and urging politicians to take note, according to a report from CNET.

The former U.S. president emphasized the need for cooperation in solving problems domestically and abroad at the New Orleans event. He said the wireless industry’s cooperative spirit has created an industry that is changing people’s lives.

According to the report, the primary message that Clinton delivered to a packed and enthusiastic audience here seemed directed not so much to the wireless industry as it was to partisan politicians in Washington and throughout the world, who are allowing their divisions and ideology to get in the way of cooperating to meet the nation’s and the world’s needs.

“Diverse opinions are healthy and disagreements are good,” he said. “But if the goal is to win through protracted conflict it may work in politics but not in real life. What works in real life is building cooperative networks to figure out how to move forward on this or that challenge.”

He said that the wireless industry is a good example of the real life cooperation that goes on to solve some of the world’s biggest challenges.

“I think about the business you all are in that has created many new networks of cooperation,” he said. “And my main point is that we have to make our politics more like what we know works in real life.”