In the case of Taiwan, President Ma Ying-jeou’s administration is trumpeting innovation as the key to future economic prosperity. The only drawback with this is the island has a problem with the concept. While Taiwan is good at inventing, it struggles at turning new things into viable commercial products.
This shortcoming is not unique to the nation’s public and private sectors though. Scores of countries have similar trouble making their ideas pay. Take the original Mini for example. Introduced by British Motor Corp. 50 years ago in response to a fuel shortage triggered by the 1956 Suez Crisis, the iconic vehicle reportedly never made the company and its successors a brass razoo.
Since Ma took office last year, addressing Taiwan’s “innovation gap” has been a key priority for the government. On April 6, the president said he plans to make the island a global innovation center, a trade hub in the Asia-Pacific region and a headquarters for the country’s international entrepreneurs. Although there might be risks involved, Ma stated his administration would maximize opportunities and minimize risks.
It is obvious the president has done his homework and understands that thinking of something new, whether it be a solution for a head-scratching conundrum or developing breakthrough technologies, is necessary for government and industry to maintain dominant positions in their respective spheres. But while championing a culture of innovation in these lean times makes for a strong sound bite, it takes much more than just words to give the concept meaning.
The blunt fact is the Ma administration needs to take several steps in order to foster an environment in which people can create. The first is a sizeable investment in inputs such as education, infrastructure and research and development. A more important element though is freedom. People must be given freedom to think, create and act independently without fear of suffering at the hands of a system that pays lip service to an individualism it cannot easily accommodate.
Throughout history, innovation has tended to be a creature of centralized processes and the privileged elite who have access to insider information, money and markets. High-flying CEOs and authoritarian governments have ratcheted up many successes using these methods, but only so much can be achieved before the system itself eventually stymies progress.
For political leaders such as Singapore’s former Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew and South Korea’s former President Park Chung-hee, who dragged their countries out of the economic mire using state-directed capitalism, systematic stagnation was an unavoidable by-product that eventually brought about their downfall. This brand of top-down innovation tended to create economies in East Asia that functioned well while international conditions were ripe for manufacturing-orientated export-led growth. But the Asian financial crisis left these structures in tatters, as those responsible for their smooth running proved unable to innovate in the face of rapidly changing circumstances.
While benevolent autocrats will always believe they can steer societies toward innovation, the truly successful innovators are individuals who make important contributions to advancing postmodern and post-industrial societies. In Taiwan, those laying claim to this spirit hail from all walks of life, with the “YouTube generation” seeming to understand better than most the value of innovation in today’s dog-eat-dog financial world.
In March, the Hanover-based International Forum Design—one of the world’s biggest and best-known design centers—included nine concepts submitted by students from Taiwan in its “Best 100” list, making the island one of the top winners in the event. With a total of 3,221 concepts and ideas contributed by students from 39 countries, Taiwan’s performance was not only praiseworthy, but pointed to its massive potential in the innovation stakes.
One winner of this year’s iF concept award was the “sticky phone” created by Liu Hsiang-ling, a National Taiwan University of Science and Technology student. Able to be stuck to a car window and recharged via its built-in solar panels, international designers believe the phone is a world-class example of Asian innovation potential.
If Taiwan is to become a serious player in this new age of mass innovation, great ideas from outside the mainstream such as Liu’s need comprehensive government support. In doing so, a national climate of creativity will be created, allowing individuals the freedom to take greater risks. As innovation is not a zero-sum game, the benefits will flow through on a worldwide level.
If accepting this as a truism, the government must also realize innovation cannot be simply ordained. If Taiwan is to become a global center for fresh ideas as the president envisages, then the creative potential of its innovators must be effectively harnessed from the bottom-up.
—Alex Yermoloff is a freelance writer based in the Isle of Dogs, U.K. These views are the author’s and not necessarily those of the TJ.
Copyright © 2009 by Alex Yermoloff
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