There is a reason for innovation, and which famous inventors actually just made breakthrough improvements. "Science and technology are the primary productive forces", and the system is obviously more important than science and technology. It is the patent law and the related innovation incentive system that promote the blowout of innovation, drive the innovation gold rush, and inspire many people to seek gold for innovation. Edison's greatness lies in commercializing innovation. He founded a company, recruited a large number of professionals to carry out professional innovation, and benefited a lot from the commercialization of innovation results.
The innovation system itself is also innovating, and the United States has various supporting systems to promote innovation. The risk of innovation is great, failure is greater than success, and the United States takes a relatively moderate attitude towards failure. The bankruptcy laws of most states in the United States allow innovators to "fail quickly and fail frequently". According to the "homestead exemption" policy of the bankruptcy law, entrepreneurs are allowed to keep their residences after business failures. States with homestead exemption policies show more innovative vitality than those without such policies.
It is mentioned in the book that in 2003, the OECD announced the sources of economic growth in OECD member countries. This paper reviews the factors that promote economic growth from the system of 197 1- 1998, and finds that the number of privately funded R&D does affect the economic growth rate, while the number of publicly funded R&D does not. Before 1940, the U.S. government did not publicly provide a large amount of public subsidies for any form of R&D activities. The miracle created by Japan is the result of the role played by private companies with the support of a huge small business ecosystem.
In the example of new technology, only 2% of innovation comes from academia, and universities make little contribution to the innovation of industrial organizations. If innovation does give birth to new industries, there is usually a reciprocal effect: science promotes technological development, and technology in turn promotes scientific progress. Big companies are not good at innovation, but they are keen to put themselves in a monopoly position and even stifle innovation. Big companies are often eliminated by more innovative industry rookies, and the only activity of big companies' innovation is competition. We believe that science is the mother of invention, and we have invested a lot of money in the academic field, so the practice of subsidizing scientific research institutions and large companies to innovate needs careful review.
Innovation often comes from outside. Some big companies realize that they can't rely on internal research and development to bring the innovation needed for competition, and the model they invented can't keep the company at the top. The R&D productivity of large companies has been in a flat state, and the success rate of innovation, that is, the percentage of new products reaching financial goals, has remained at around 35%. P&G has obtained half of the innovation from outside the company, and the strategy of "open innovation" has achieved the expected effect, and P&G has resumed the speed of launching successful new products.
Innovation is not shouted by slogans, nor is it piled up by money. Innovation itself is a science, and the theory of extracting wisdom invented by Russian Archie Schuler is an innovative science, and many innovative technological thinking modes are put forward. Innovation needs the encouragement of system innovation and support system; It is mentioned in the book that the most important ingredients in the secret of innovation are freedom, freedom of communication, freedom of experiment, freedom of imagination, freedom of investment and freedom of failure.
This book made me think a lot. In contrast, what do we lack in innovation technology, innovation system and innovation freedom? How to support innovation more efficiently by supporting enterprises and a large number of investment research institutions? How do we innovate the innovation system?
The Origin of Innovation, Matt ridley (English), Machinery Industry Press, 202 1 Edition.
Wang Yu
February 2022