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Elements that determine innovative nations: The case of Japan
The fact is, most of the innovative countries in the world are clean countries. Their people do not throw rubbish in the river, do not pile up rubbish on streets, and do not take for granted precarious garbage collectors.
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Japan fans use plastic bags to remove garbage at the end of the 2018 World Cup Group H football match between Japan and Senegal at the Ekaterinburg Arena in Ekaterinburg, Russia, on June 24, 2018. (AFP/Anne-Christine Poujoulat )
Q
uite recently, Ryuta Takeda, CEO of Leave a Nest Co., Ltd., a very famous techno-park or innovation center, hosted me on a public holiday and allowed me to learn the history and portfolios of his movement.
Many so-called “innovative labs” in this country have tried to “learn” from the center. They try to build similar warehouse-like patterned co-working spaces, commercialize similar business models, or recreate similar events, but fail to replicate the underlying basic values that make Leave a Nest successful in the first place, namely the long history of Japan in investing in human capital, even prior to World War II.
In the Japanese case, human capital precedes monetary capital.
Investment in human capital is the underlying common factor as is also the case for Germany and Italy who, like Japan, were the beneficiaries of the Marshall Plan. Japan’s development of human capital began hundreds of years before the war. The work ethic, the productive mindset, the long-term horizon mentality, the respect for both mind and hands were already there.
Countries wishing to reach such a level, need at least a generational reset. Starting with firing the neurons of the current kindergarten students to believe in those values plus diversity, anticorruption, no get-rich-quick schemes and primarily a love for humanity and nature.
The basic values are where you start, before you lay out any strategy (hopefully a good and fit one) and implementing the innovation road map. For a nation, it may take two generations to build this. It cannot be jumped, or else it is in peril.
The following are the basic values that have been well maintained like artifacts.
