Many countries and regions declare that they want to develop their own Silicon Valley and be a hub for innovation. The page for Technology Centers on Wikipedia, for example, lists no fewer than 90 places that have billed themselves as “Silicon This” or “That Valley”, hoping to emulate the Valley’s success in generating innovation. It is usually followed by a variety of policy initiatives, such as R&D tax credits, public grants for innovation, public procurement of innovation, grand innovation challenges, and support for intellectual property rights. Yet, few regions have managed to achieve the levels of innovation as seen in Silicon Valley. Why? We argue they have overlooked an important set of policies altogether. Pretty much all policy measures target the economic incentives to innovate. Instead, our research shows that social policies matter just as much — if not more.
Research: Legal Marijuana and Gay Marriage Have Been Good for U.S. Innovation
Many local governments have implemented economic policies to try and make them the next “Silicon” Something. But it’s not only economic policies that matter to innovation, according to a new study. Researchers looked at social policies in the U.S., where states have considerable leeway in making their own rules. In states that legalized marijuana and gay marriage, patenting rates rose above and beyond what normal projections would have predicted. In states that implemented abortion restrictions, patenting rates fell. Moreover, in states that liberalized their social policies, new patents were more novel and impactful than average. Why? The answer seems to be that more liberal social policy results in more diverse groups of people mingling together, which produces better innovations: the findings show increases of 22% and 17% in inventors’ number of new collaborators subsequent to legalization of same-sex unions and medical marijuana, respectively. If policymakers want to foster innovation, then, it’s not enough to think about their economic policies. They also need to consider how social policies will complement their economic plans.