Creativity and long-term growth: a closer and stronger relationship

At summer end 2009, global recession might show first signs of  recovery – with luck. GDP might stop shrinking in Asian economies, maybe in Europe and in the US. Still, the foundations of possible growth are not very clear. Governments around the globe have stepped in by offering stimulus packages, often of enormous dimensions. So now is the time for the action list. It will differ from country to country, from region to region, even from company to company. But voices become loud asking for a change of mindset. Attacking urgent microeconomic reforms, more fluency in global coordination and emphazising poverty and inclusion issues are amongst the requested issues. The hardest part will be the change of mindset, shifting present paradigms. Creativity and innovation will need to be strongly fostered on all levels: schoolchildren, youth, entrepreneurs, administration, enterprise, education. It is the time to take advantage of structural changes imposed by the crisis. Yet, R&D is usually cut back because companies usually finance through cash flow, which, in these times, means a strong decline. SME companies are even harder hit if you consider that their main primary asset – their idea or patent – is intangible and herewith hard to finance in these times. So, even more, this is the time to rely on knowledge, on new knowledge. Governments will have to take into consideration that we need a more open and more international kind of innovation, with creativity flowing freely. Reinforcement of nationalistic trade and migration are working against this. We need to design sustainable long-term growth and we need creativity.