3 guidelines to foster innovation

Inspired by a column of Pieter Hilhorst Carel Muller suggested that the 3 guidelines for "passionate budget cuts", might also apply to foster innovation: "de-regulate, small-scaliness and do-it-yourself".

So advise to the government would be:
- de-regulate: it would be cheaper and much nicer to change unnecessary juridical fights with mediation. Looking for a solution is then the main goal, not applying the rules (as the "paarse krokodil" advertisement).
-Small-scaliness: from the positive experience in health care we can learn that large-scale is not always cost efficient, nor "customer friendly" to the patients. Small-cale can be "klein maar fijn", and if it would be the norm in healtcare it could save 2,8 mld euros according to Kees Tamboer in the Parool 10th of Febr 2010.
- do-it-yourself: and finally, the way to save most, according to Pieter Hilhorst, is let amateurs take over the work of professionals, as much as possible, as banks did with home-banking.

What do you think? Could the need to cut expenses create opportunities for new policies/ ideas?
And what do you think about the 3 principles suggested?

Wouter Kersten

Some thoughts:
* focus on traditional strengths (water, greenery etc) or new ones (nanotech, bio-economy, fin services, life sciences, embedded software, etc)
* specialise (see above) or more integral approach?... Lees verder
* isolated approach (geographically) or integrated. I mean the randstad is as big as London, so why not position it as such, but then for real
* USE the aspects that are mostly considered to be negative: open economy (immigration), cultural diversity, the 'silver economy' (ie ageing), etc....

Gabi Helfert

They need to open up more to international concepts, people, ideas. A lot of knowledge-intensive/ innovation work is still very much focused on Dutch collaborations, organizations and the like. The country in itself is too small to play a major role without international collaboration. I can't understand e.g. why a lot of conferences, events etc. ... See Morein the area of innovation are still predominantly held in Dutch - which excludes the majority of other Europeans or players beyond. Even regional networks should be more open to international players, since e.g. the big players in Rotterdam, the harbor etc. are international companies who employ a lot of brilliant international people - who just don't happen to be fluent in Dutch. Just a few examples: Idealize, SenterNovem, openinnovatie.nl, Innovatief Nederland,
Zorg Innovatie Forum, Centrum voor Innovatie Management (CIM) - all exclusively Dutch clubs, with Dutch websites, newsletters, meetings etc. Not very inviting for a large part of the 50% of people with non-Dutch roots living in the area...