Governments should:
1. Put in place incentives for firms to innovate within their borders. These should include robust R&D tax incentives; incentives, such as accelerated depreciation, to invest in new equipment, particularly IT; and other policies that spur investment in the building blocks of growth, such as workforce evelopment tax credits.
2. Be open to high-skill immigration. High skill immigrants are the source of many new ideas and innovations. Countries that are open to high skill immigration will be able to better succeed.
3. Foster a digital economy. Nations should not only expand public investments in IT in areas such as health care, energy systems, transportation, government, and education, but also put in place the right regulatory frameworks to spur, not limit, digital investment. Nations need to also consider how existing regulatory and public procurement policies can be redesigned to intentionally spur digital transformation.
4. Support the kinds of institutions that are critical to innovation. Nations need to expand funding not just for university research, but for the kinds of mechanisms and institutions that help foster commercialization of research. In addition, they need to boost support for a host of efforts such as local economic development, entrepreneurship development, and workforce training.
5. Ensure that regulations and other related government policies support, not retard, innovation. Too often, powerful interest groups (business, civic, and labor) fight against change and innovation, often under the guise of the public interest, but all too often the result is that progressive and positive innovation is slowed. Nations should ensure that their regulations, procurement, and other related policies tilt toward innovation.
See full Report, in pdf format.
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