At closer look, however, these two places share some interesting similarities. The practice of networking has been raised to a high art form in both places. They both rely on a significant immigrant population and have competitive, almost aggressive, business practices. In each place, there's a great respect for both learning and risk-taking. It turns out that governments can help, too.
Government policies can encourage collaboration and nurture the sharing of knowledge.
They can permit, heretofore restricted, activities and offer incentives to move in risk-taking directions. All of these translate into important messages. For example, in 1980, when the U.S. was at its highest distress over competition from Japan, the federal government initiated policy changes that, over time, have helped move us into our current innovative posture. Their concepts were simple but their impact considerable. Stevenson-Wydler made it government policy to move technologies out of the nation's over 700 national laboratories.