Yesterday I was invited to join the Dutch governments 'Innovation Lecture'. The crowd included our minister of economic affairs and other high placed people in Dutch corporate and public domain. There was a great keynote speaker telling everybody more about what Innovation is. bla bla
All together I think the event was nice and I am grateful for the invite but....
There was nothing that gave the impression that we were talking about innovation. 90% of the people were 50+ (my impression) only a few ladies and nothing really new. Even the present at the end (A USB cup warmer) made me think that Holland will be last in the world where it concerns innovation. The fork/spoon made me really sad, if this is the imagination of our economic department we are fucked. Just goodwill and chatting is not enough to bring us at the forefront of innovation. Risk, opportunity, entrepreneurship, trust are the key words I am thinking about in creating the environment to be competitive on innovation. Less rules and regulation and a task force that actually helps to stimulate people and organisation to develop new ways of doing things. But at number one of my list: Accept faillure... Don't throw billions at rotten banks and other financial institutions andlet these businesses die. New banks and financial institutions will arise and innovate. The money saved can go EDUCATION. More money for teachers and as a consequence more esteem for this profession. We need to teach our kids skills and give them knowledge. Priority numero uno. bla bla I know why I am not impressed with politicians. They talk, meet and talk and will not do anything that is a risk for their carreer or the political party they represent. Sad because I think highly of the people like Minister Verhoeven, what a great personality, but caught in the claws of our Dutch Democrazy...
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