Lack Of Venture Money Killing Innovation

from the says-who? dept

People have very weird metrics for measuring "innovation". I already complained about a Business Week article suggesting that the lack of VC funds will mean less innovation and now that article is being supported by more ridiculous and unrelated facts. USA Today is reporting that innovation is slowing down because there is (1) less venture capital available and (2) the growth rate of patent applications has slowed down. The actual number of patents filed is growing this year - but the rate at which it has grown has dropped. USA Today is sure this means less innovation - though I think it's a bit of a stretch to make that connection. As pointed out previously, the lack of venture capital could actually stimulate innovation as companies will have to be a lot more creative in building businesses. When venture money was flowing it was easy to build a purely me-too business that involved no innovation whatsoever. And, I won't even start in on the issue of relating patents to innovation...

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