The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation (ITIF) is one of the best think tanks in Washington because they study how innovation drives economic growth. However, the ITIF largely ignores how intangible capital drives innovation and economic growth. In their recent report,
Contributors and Detractors:Ranking Countries’ Impact on Global Innovation,
http://www2.itif.org/2016-contributors-and-detractors.pdf
they use an obsolete model of policy that almost completely ignores both intangible capital as a driver of innovation AND the methodology of innovation management as a driver of innovation.
The report focuses on measuring global competitiveness of innovation in countries with a model of innovation that is driven almost entirely by the traditional factors of economic growth such as deregulation to achieve free markets and global trade, availability of capital, protection of intellectual property, and tax incentives for funding R&D. The report considers "human capital" as mainly general higher education produced at universities.
The ITIF is promoting an obsolete policy for competitive innovation that is like promoting an obsolete policy for competitive manufacturing that focuses mainly on capital investments in factories (land and buildings) and the unregulated cost of labor and labor conditions while ignoring the methodology of manufacturing management and engineering based on smart people with specific knowledge required to manage and operate modern assembly lines enabled by flexibility in sequence and the interchangeability of parts, assisted by Frederick Taylor's scientific management, expert knowledge of and application of quality management based on statistics, resulting in the competitiveness enabled by the principles and practices of a system of lean production and the relationships in supply chain management to achieve just-in-time, reduced inventory and maximized flow while controlling high standards of quality.
And of course, business success for growth in manufacturing requires the right products to be manufactured with validated market demand and value resulting from competitive innovation management with competitive strategy, organization, marketing, R&D, finance and HR based on tangible and intangible capital.
