At the back-end of the recession, innovation has become one of those buzz words.

A classic example is General Electric, which in May 2009 announced that over the next six years it would spend $3 billion to create at least 100 health-care innovations that would substantially lower costs, increase access, and improve quality.

In Israel, I am associated with the annual Techshoret Conference (March 2010), where innovation will be the key theme for communicators.

In the world of social media, there are plenty of tweeters on innovation. Similarly, LinkedIn groups have seen a plethora of discussions on the subject.

A new book expounded on the importance of innovation in the current economic situation. Entitled “Start Up Nation – The story of Israel’s economic miracle” (Senor and Singer), the authors relate how Israel is one of the first countries to break from the global recession.

I have previously written about Israel’s increasing economic performance. This book gives that ability a philosophical background. As Dan Senor stated in an interview with CNBC, survivability  has fed into innovation. Israeli physche looked at the economic downturn and said “we will get through this, quickly. Let’s move on.”

Senor and Singer ask how can Israel, surrounded by a geopolitical mess, continue to generate relatively high growth. They detail 8 factors.

Of the 8, I will single out two of them, which are often ignored, missed or considered political hotcakes for many in the OECD; First, immigration, which Israel openly encourages. There is hardly a sucessful hightech company today without a section of Russian scientists, who arrived in the 1990s. How would Le Pen in France or the BNP in the UK take to that concept?

And secondly, the military. All Israelis know that serving in the army need not just be 3 years away from home, but your first rung in an academic / technical career. In contrast, British newspapers often report how troops returning from Iraq and elsewhere struggle to return to society.

As the world moves out of recession, it will be interesting to analyse which companies have invested in innovation and which have not, and then asking who is doing better.