Is the United States falling behind in creativity and innovation?

Like many of my peers, I am an ethnocentric American. As patriotic citizens of the United States, we are taught Americans are the best in the world at everything. We are the leaders in creativity and innovation. After all we did send the first man to the moon.

Is this still true or are we only deluding ourselves? Is the United States still the most creative and innovative of all? Are we still the most competitive?

Let us see what Robert D. Atkinson, President of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF), has to say. His team used sixteen indicators to measure global competitiveness. They fall into six broad categories:

1.) Human capital
2.) Innovation capacity
3.) Entrepreneurship
4.) IT infrastructure
5.) Economic policy
6.) Economic performance.

The ITIF report finds the United States ranks sixth overall among forty nations/regions in overall innovation and global competitiveness. Singapore is number one, Denmark is number four. When you are in an innovation race, do you consider coming in at sixth place to be acceptable?

Now that I have your attention, take a look at which countries are making the fastest progress toward the new knowledge-based innovation economy.

When you look at the change score that measures the rate of innovation over the past decade and compare this to the other 39 countries, the United States ranks last in progress toward the new knowledge-based innovation economy over the last decade. We are number 40 out of 40 nations/regions!

Mirror, mirror on the wall, what is going to happen to us all?

To read the full report by the ITIF, please go to The Atlantic Century.

Author: Kirpal Singh

Back in the 1950’s, when I grew up in a tiny rural community in Texas we pretended we were all one skin color, we all spoke English and we all went to the local Christian church on Sunday.  Ours was a society that valued homogeneity.

Our world has changed dramatically since then. Our ability to travel and do business globally has significantly increased the likelihood that we will meet people from other cultures. Sometimes, we are confused by their assumptions and their behavior. It is unavoidable; we now live in a pluralistic society.

Imagine if you lost a $25 million business deal because you failed to research the cultural expectations of your potential business partner. This is a true story relayed by Kirpal Singh who spoke to the (CSTC) Creative Skills Training Council about the impact multiculturalism has on business and other aspects of our life.

Professor Kirpal Singh, the author of THINKING HATS & COLOURED TURBANS: Creativity Across Cultures, works with governments, non-profits and multinationals, on the issues and challenges surrounding the sensitive arena of cross/intercultural engagements. He is internationally renowned as a creativity guru and futurist.

Since 9-11, there is a new urgency to gain better understanding and knowledge about other cultures. We all have choices to make on how to interact with other cultures. We can demonize those who are different from us or perhaps we can invite them for a cup of tea, get to know them, and understand their perspective.

We are all invaluable as human beings; we bring many gifts from our respective cultures. We can create a world where we value multiculturalism, we can take pride in acquiring knowledge about other cultures, and we can make the choice to celebrate our differences and to live in harmony.

Kirpal Singh speaks about Creativity and Innovation – The Cross-Cultural Dimension. If you listen and learn, you may save your next multimillion dollar business deal.