The Global Innovation Index 2013 may not mean much to innovative entrepreneurs who get on with what they have to do regardless of the level of innovation of the country they find themselves in.
Imagine entrepreneurs in a country that has rated poorly on the Global Innovation Index for the past 20 years. Entrepreneurs can’t just throw up their hands and give up. Nor can they easily move to a higher performing country on the innovation index.
Country-level innovation is a broad measure but it does still indicate whether a country has an enabling environment of innovation. The innovation index includes laws, policies, institutions, education and even so-called “creative outputs” such as intangible assets, creative goods and services and online creativity.
It is these conditions that help to create an enabling environment for innovation and a supportive of climate for innovative entrepreneurs. Yet even when innovation is poor because of weak governments who lack interest in innovation, entrepreneurs still break through despite harsh environments. There would be more if governments did not have their own narrow, self-interest led agendas.
The top innovative countries are Switzerland, Sweden, United Kingdom, the Netherlands and United States of America. Regionally, India is the top performer in Central and Southern Asia, Mauritius ranked the highest for Sub-Saharan Africa, Hong Kong was tops in Southeast Asia and Oceana, Israel ranked highest in Northern Africa and Western Asia and Costa Rica was the leader in the Caribbean.
I’m not even going to mention or name the loser countries in the Global Innovation Index 2013. Those deadbeat countries despite their natural advantages remain locked in their low position on the innovation ladder because they lack vision.
The winning countries both possess supportive policies, invest their resources in enabling institutions, human capital and research, infrastructure, market sophistication, business sophistication and knowledge and technology.
Unlike the innovative countries, the dunces have greater net outflows of FDI (foreign direct investment) – money runs away from their countries – can’t attract FDI, lower knowledge-intensive employment, poor tertiary education, high pupil-teacher ratios and abysmal environmental performance.
What can you do to be innovative despite the dismal conditions in your country? Hard-working entrepreneurs can still identify opportunities to transform business processes, grow opportunities and improve the lives of people.
Innovation can’t be doused by the triple challenge of a government which implements harsh laws, punitive policies and throttles small business with taxes and administered prices.
The flame of innovation has to burn bright because it is our only hope. If you have a new business idea and want to evaluate its viability and value, fill in your details below and I’ll send you “The One-Page New Business Idea Accelerator Evaluation Tool”. It’s free for a limited time only.
