Take a leaf out of Uncle Sam's book of innovation

Across the Atlantic good ideas are given a chance to flourish, writes Graham Leicester "IN the beginning all the world was America," wrote John Locke in his Second Treatise of Government. It seemed to the 17th century philosopher that the "new world" was closer to nature, a state from which European civilisation had developed. America was a pristine past.

Now it is a fascinating future, a glimpse not of where we have come from but where we are going. It did not take long for the United States to start setting the pace - in technology, commerce, research, business practices, popular culture, fast food. Now we all know that what America does this year, the rest of the developed world will do next.

That fact has bred some resentment, some envy, and a backlash in some quarters against "Americanisation" and the power of its global brands. But the sheer vibrancy and inventiveness of the place has to be admired. I was treading a very well-worn path when I visited the country earlier this year to tap into that energy and fill my bags with the kind of new ideas that might inspire the new Scotland. If only we in Scotland could discover the source of that energy, that constant innovation. Any society will contain roughly 80% of people who follow the models developed elsewhere. Another 15% will be "fast followers" who latch on to a new idea quickly. Then there might be 5% who are the genuine innovators. The difference in the US is that 5% forms a substantial critical mass. The spirit of boundless enterprise probably means that 5% is an underestimate in any case. Money helps too. In a culture of such dedicated consumerism allied to a huge domestic market there is always a chance that a good idea will make a fortune and that funding can be found to make it happen. But there is also a generous supply of funding for social and other policy research - largely down to the charitable instincts of the great American capitalists of the past like Rockefeller, Ford, Carnegie and Brookings. The list of research foundations is endless. Hence a feature of "the American century" has been a firm belief in the power of reason, objective research and analysis to solve the challenges society inevitably presents us with. There has always been hope. There is also a rare combination of innovation in both the worlds of business and of governance and public policy. The Kennedy School of Government in Harvard sits side by side with MIT and the Ernst and Young Centre for Business Innovation. It is this complementary mix of public and private that we are now coming to see as one of the defining characteristics of the ''third way". I was surprised by how often I heard that phrase in and around Washington, and by the strength in depth of the transatlantic policy dialogue which supports it. New Labour ministers, and their advisers, are all well known - along with the Dutch, the Germans, the French, and other "third wayers" from across Europe. So what can Scotland learn from the US? We can certainly pick up on the culture which permits so many new ideas to flourish and to be translated into action. This is not just about "tolerating failure" although the willingness to make mistakes may be part of it. It is more about the openness of US society, the availability of information, the sharing of knowledge and ideas that comes so naturally. If people have ideas they do not try to hang on to them. They spread the word, knowing that others can only add to and improve their own thinking. I was impressed everywhere I went with the willingness to pass on work in progress. Everyone is looking for new angles, new networks, new voices. We certainly need more of the "can do'' spirit in Scotland. Even in the US, where there has been a concentrated effort to "reinvent government" and to harness the dynamism of the private sector to a public purpose, government is said to lag business by at least 10 years in terms of innovation; and the education system lags government by a similar margin. Who would claim that the position is any different here? We can wait for government to innovate, to modernise, and to lead us into the future if we wish; or wait for an education system which still sets its clock by the agricultural calendar to stimulate the creative energies of a generation entering the knowledge economy. Or we can learn the lessons of the US experience and instead encourage dynamism, innovation and constant inquiry. We will need those qualities if we are to tackle the challenges of rapid change and crippling inequality which face Scotland. But there is every reason for optimism. Scotland has a rich history of inventiveness and enterprise, coupled with a strong moral sense of community. What better place, and what better time, to rediscover that heritage? Maybe we can even teach Uncle Sam some new tricks. Graham Leicester is Director of the Scottish Council Foundation and a fellow of the USIA International Visitor Program

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