Matt Ridley, in his book how Innovation Works, and who it flourishes in freedom, identifies several actors in the innovation game. First he rebukes the claim that government is primarily responsible for new things.
It is just that it does not happen very often, and that far more often inventions and discoveries emerge by serendipity and the exchange of ideas, and are pushed, pulled, moulded, transformed and brought to life by people acting as individuals, firms, markets and, yes, sometimes public servants.
But don’t rely on big business to bring about new things either.
Big companies are bad at innovating, because they are too bureaucratic, have too big a vested interest in the status quo and stop paying attention to the interests, actual and potential, of their customers. Thus for innovation to flourish it is vital to have an economy that encourages or at least allows outsiders, challengers and distuptors to get a foothold.
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