What is the value of innovation to an economy?

When talking about Israel, the IMD Buiness School has noted how innovation has helped Israel out of the global recession quicker than most. Innovation has helped Israel to reach the levels of OECD membership. I have wondered if Israel has discovered the DNA of innovation.

A boutique Israeli software house, QMarkets, has taken the concept of innovation one stage further. It provides companies with a formal platform, allowing senior managers to engage with the ideas of their employees and then to act on them.

My colleagues and I have been involved with QMarkets for around two years now, particularly in the UK and European markets. For example, last month, EDG, a significant international consultancy group, started a series of trials with the company. This has been followed with orders from a large energy supplier in the UK and a European telecon giant, with several pilots also in the pipeline.

A true sign of Qmarkets emergence was its positioning on the prestigious executive internet TV channel, “Meet The Boss.” Here, Michael Stilger, the company’s director of Global Solutions, outlined the concept of “innovation led growth”. Bottom line: Instead of investing in a production line or a software, promoting or encouraging innovation will impact directly on a firm’s internal procedures – that is to say, more sales and /or less costs.

From there, it is only a short step to see why the economy will benefit at a macro level from innovation. Interested?