Can’t Afford to Innovate? Open up!
Former baseball catcher Yogi Berra liked to observe that “the future isn’t what it used to be.” This has also been a commonly voiced opinion about innovation. It is not hard to see why. The great research and development laboratories of the 20th century have downsized, been broken up, or redirected to new purposes in the West, while new labs are springing up overseas in places such as India and China. Fears of outsourcing high wage jobs to low cost centers around the world dominate many discussions of economic and trade policy. In many varied parts of the Western innovation system, the future of innovation has clearly changed. Nowadays, companies need to open up to innovate effectively.
The rapid emergence of India and China into the international economic system creates more pressure on innovation. How can you stay ahead of companies who are based in areas where wages are much lower than yours? How can you afford to innovate today?
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