Commentary by Katie Barry

2009 - European Year of Creativity and Innovation

If Europe has a dedicated year of creativity and innovation, do other countries/regions need their own? -------------

There's been a lot of talk – particularly since the global recession became a reality – about whether or not government should be involved in innovation.

The European Parliament proclaimed the European Year of Creativity and Innovation 2009 (EYCI) to focus "on the importance of creativity in private and public life." As nice as that sounds – and as well-intentioned as it likely is – what impact will this "year" have?

They do have a set of defined goals, but they are broad enough that quantifying success will be a challenge. Their ambassadors list is impressive - I hope to find out more about their role (the role of leadership is innovation is critical) and report back here at a later date.

Updated 2/11: BusinessWeek has a new article, "Obama Needs a Secretary of Innovation," – that explores the benefit of having someone in charge of 2 tasks: "The first is to lead a systematic national innovation process, bringing this powerful strategy to bear on the government's role in unclenching the lockjaw of this economic crisis. The second is to create a national innovation mindset, reinvigorating innovation in the private sector." Any discussion of innovation and process makes me happy, but is this a good beginning to making America "innovative"?

Reader Questions: If Europe has a dedicated year of creativity and innovation, do other countries/regions need their own? Are there lessons from the EYCI's initial planning that could be improved upon already? How will you judge their success?

RSS