Innovation centres in the USA

In the UK at the moment a great deal of concern is being expressed about the role of the small business and the fact that it is the small businesses which can create new jobs at a time when large organisations are reducing their labour forces. Many pious hopes are being expressed that at least some of those receiving redundancy payments will invest this money in starting a new business. Technological innovation is also a very popular phrase with politicians and others who regard it as some kind of universal panacea. These ideas unfortunately seem to be confused by two fallacies, the first being that the UK is a nation of small businesses (when comparison with the USA and Germany shows that we are in fact large‐company‐oriented) and the second that whilst we in the UK are good at inventing we are not so good at putting inventions into production. It can be argued that in comparison with many countries we are no longer even good at inventing (with some very notable exceptions), and this can be demonstrated by the lower number of patent applications. To transform wishful thinking into reality it may be of benefit to study the reaction of the USA when faced with a similar situation. In the past the high standard of living achieved within the United States was ascribed to the entrepreneurial spirit and innovativeness of its people and of its small firms which rapidly grew into large organisations, in their own turn hiving off staff to start other small firms, thereby repeating the whole process. However once signs appeared that these basic qualities were diminishing, with a consequent erosion of the standard of living, various remedies were suggested, one of which was the formation of Innovation Centres. The present paper traces the development of these Centres and gives an indication of their early successes. Various small initiatives in this area are being shown in the UK but it would appear that the economy could benefit from Governmental support of similar Innovation Centres to those in the USA.