Ideas and money alone won't get us there...
Why a joined-up, total system for innovation is what Scotland needs now
Like every carefully crafted tartan cloth, the fabric of Scotland's innovation system needs to be thought-out and joined up. You can't start weaving without a plan.
As a business working with innovative organisations across the UK, Europe and Middle East, we appreciate the many challenges of bringing about lasting change in an innovation culture. There is no quick fix; any worthwhile transformation may take months or years.
Scotland is on its own innovation and entrepreneurship journey, with economic growth as the measure of success.
A few weeks ago we were encouraged by colleagues in Scottish Government to make a contribution to the open consultation on the country's innovation strategy. Part of the homework was reading the detailed Economic Evidence Paper, issued by the office of the economic advisor.
We found the questions in the consultation document clear, thoughtful and provocative. We focused on those questions that highlighted the lack of an overall innovation system, which is an issue that crosses over sectors and technologies.
Our final submission-in-full also turned out to be a really useful manifesto of what the Eureka!Europe team believes about evidence-based innovation.
Here are the highlights from our executive summary: